Home/ Questions/Q 4030230
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-20T11:26:42+00:00

I’m using VB.NET and the .NET 3.5 framework. I am trying to automate word

  • 0

I’m using VB.NET and the .NET 3.5 framework.

I am trying to automate word and excel using their respective PIAs to get intellisense help, then (since the users don’t have the PIA assemblies/DLLs installed) remove the references so that it will work as a COM object call without throwing an error.

I found this article:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/15s06t57.aspx
but it doesn’t really help me with what version of the assembly/DLL I should use. When I go to add a reference I see something like these:

first pane

then

Second pane

then

third pane

Notice all of these highlighted ones all sound similar and there are multiple versions of the assembly. The link I started with suggests the name of the DLL in association to the product version (like WORD version 12 — Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll) but doesn’t say what version of the PIA assembly. So how do I know which one to use?

And a better question: why is this not OBVIOUS somewhere? All I want is Microsoft to say “hey, you want to automate a mail merge with Word 2007? Use [insert meaningful DLL name here (PIA or “tools” assembly?)]. By the way, you can get that DLL here [“here” hyper-linked to the download I need]. Working with computers that may have 2007 or 2010 installed? Make sure you have both DLLs (if that is the case), and here is how you test for it: [insert helpful example].

(e.g. “For Word 14 (i.e. Word 2010), use the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word DLL version 12.0.0.0” (is this the case? I don’t know.)) That should be obvious, and it does not appear to be so.

Maybe it is obvious? Is the version of the DLL the same as the version of the program? (i.e. Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word DLL version 12.0.0.0 =?= WORD version 12)

Maybe I am over-thinking this, but it is still not obvious to me. I’ll be happy if you can answer the first question, but if you can explain both, that would be better.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Use the class browser to see if the DLL you add exposes the functionality you want (just like you do for every other reference you ever add.

    why is this not OBVIOUS somewhere?

    So, you want everything you could possibly ever create with the office integration documented somewhere? That doesn’t make sense!

    • 0