Question

I have a Search Engine which draws from two different workbooks, one which the search engine is in, so thats easy, but the other is seperate.

I am wondering if there is a way to link them so that if one is opened, the other will. These will be put on a wiki and I need them both to be downloaded, is there a way to put them both into the same file but keep them separate at the same time?

I’m guessing the answer will be no, but it doesn’t hurt to pick your brains 😉

Answer 1

The most practical approach would be placing code in each file to

 - check if the other file eas already open 
 - if not then either
     - open the other file (assuming the same location) if not already open
     - report the file as missing

To do this you would place code like below in the ThisWorkbook module of each of the two workbooks.

Note that the code disables events to avoid a newly opened file trying to re-open the initial file (although the code will still handle this

Use the same code in the second book, but update the strFil variable for the name of the other book

File#2

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
'This File is File02.xlsm
'Other file is File01.xlsm
Dim strFile1 As String
Dim wb As Workbook
strFile = "File01.xlsm"
On Error Resume Next
Set wb = Workbooks(strFile)
On Error GoTo 0
'if file is already open then leave sun
If wb Is Nothing Then
With Application
.ScreenUpdating = False
.DisplayAlerts = False
.EnableEvents = False
On Error Resume Next
Set wb = Workbooks.Open(ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & strFile)
On Error GoTo 0
.ScreenUpdating = True
.DisplayAlerts = True
.EnableEvents = True
End With
End If
'file not present
If wb Is Nothing Then MsgBox strFile & " not present", vbCritical
End Sub