XL98: How to Add the Workbook Path to the Footer

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. You can use the BeforePrint workbook event to run a Sub procedure that adds the current path and file name to the left footer of the active worksheet before the workbook is printed. The workbook must be saved before you can add any path information to the footer. To create the Sub procedure in the active workbook, follow these steps:

1. With the workbook active, start the Visual Basic Editor (press OPTION+F11).
2. Click Project Explorer on the View menu to display the Project Explorer window.
3. In the Project Explorer window of Visual Basic Editor, double-click ThisWorkbook in the current project.
4. In the Object list for this module, click Workbook.
5. In the Procedure list for this module, click BeforePrint.
6. Enter the code so the Workbook_BeforePrint procedure resembles the following:

         Private Sub Workbook_BeforePrint(Cancel As Boolean)
   
             ActiveSheet.PageSetup.LeftFooter = ThisWorkbook.FullName
   
         End Sub
   					

7. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft Excel.

Now when you print the workbook, the footer is automatically updated before the workbook is printed. Repeat these steps for each workbook in which you want this behavior to occur.

Using Ampersand (&) in the File Name

If the file name contains an ampersand (&), it may not display correctly. This is because Excel treats the ampersand as a special character in the header and footer. To display an ampersand in the header and footer, repeat the ampersand twice (&&). To do this in the macro, use the Replace function in Visual Basic for Applications:

Sub UpdateFooter()
    ActiveSheet.PageSetup.LeftFooter = Replace(ActiveWorkbook.FullName, "&", "&&")
End Sub