VBA: Loop through all files in a directory and convert them to PDF-files

ConvertWordsToPdfs.cls

Sub ConvertWordsToPdfs()

    Dim directory As String    
    directory = "C:\Wordup" ' The starting directory
  
    Dim fso, folder, files
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    
    Set folder = fso.GetFolder(directory)
    Set files = folder.files
    
    For Each file In files

        Dim newName As String
        newName = Replace(file.Path, ".doc", ".pdf")
                
        Documents.Open FileName:=file.Path, _
            ConfirmConversions:=False, ReadOnly:=False, AddToRecentFiles:=False, _
            PasswordDocument:="", PasswordTemplate:="", Revert:=False, _
            WritePasswordDocument:="", WritePasswordTemplate:="", Format:= _
            wdOpenFormatAuto, XMLTransform:=""
            
        ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:=newName, _
            ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF, OpenAfterExport:=False, OptimizeFor:= _
            wdExportOptimizeForPrint, Range:=wdExportAllDocument, From:=1, To:=1, _
            Item:=wdExportDocumentContent, IncludeDocProps:=True, KeepIRM:=True, _
            CreateBookmarks:=wdExportCreateNoBookmarks, DocStructureTags:=True, _
            BitmapMissingFonts:=True, UseISO19005_1:=False
        
        ActiveDocument.Close
      
    Next

End Sub

The "newFile" variable never is used

Cool. Seems to work only for Word files. This complements exporting Excel to PDF: http://analystcave.com/vba-excel-to-pdf-exporter-single-batch-export/

Nice code! how could it be modified to include subdirectories? also when i launch it, words ask for confirmation of save changes of several files. How could this be avoided?

Thanks in advance!!

salvaleuven, Have you got any method to avoid the confirmation dialog, programmatically?

@salvaleuven, you could try Application.DisplayAlerts = False and Application.DisplayAlerts = True at the end. Also, about the subfolders, check the link below.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22645439/2449724

Thanks for this code, @sebnilsson, it is really useful!

If this code is used on .docx files, it results in the invalid extension .pdfx. (This is a curious bug, since the .docx format was introduced with Office 2007.) The problem can be avoided by replacing line 15 with these two statements:

newName = Replace(file.Path, ".docx", ".pdf")
newName = Replace(newName, ".docx", ".pdf")

Only one of the two replacements will make any change in the string, so the result will be a .pdf extension in either case.

I encounter a Run-Time error '424' Object Required at line 17. I made sure to select Microsoft Scripting Runtime in References - VBAProject.
Can someone help?

Same here as snicker40. Showing Run-Time error '424' Object Required at line 17. However I am trying to convert a folder of pdfs into docs. So I made slight changes in the original code posted here.
Please look at it and suggest me where I need to make changes in order to get the macro running.

Sub ConvertPdfsToDocs()

Dim directory As String
directory = "E:\Sayan\Sayan_May_2018\Rajeev data cleaning\Invoice extraction May2018\PDF invoices\06_06_18_Batch8_total\Batch8_sayan\" ' The starting directory

Dim fso, newFile, folder, files
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set folder = fso.GetFolder(directory)
Set files = folder.files

For Each file In files

    Dim newName As String
    newName = Replace(file.path, ".pdf", ".doc")
            
    Documents.Open FileName:=file.path, _
        ConfirmConversions:=False, ReadOnly:=False, AddToRecentFiles:=False, _
        PasswordDocument:="", PasswordTemplate:="", Revert:=False, _
        WritePasswordDocument:="", WritePasswordTemplate:="", Format:= _
        wdOpenFormatAuto, XMLTransform:=""
        
    ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:=newName, _
        ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatDOC, OpenAfterExport:=False, OptimizeFor:= _
        wdExportOptimizeForPrint, Range:=wdExportAllDocument, From:=1, To:=1, _
        Item:=wdExportDocumentContent, IncludeDocProps:=True, KeepIRM:=True, _
        CreateBookmarks:=wdExportCreateNoBookmarks, DocStructureTags:=True, _
        BitmapMissingFonts:=True, UseISO19005_1:=False
    
    ActiveDocument.Close
  
Next

End Sub

same issue here. Error 424 any answers?

You need to enable Reference Microsoft Word if not enabled. Thanks @sebnilsson, & @mvpjjf.

#same issue here. Error 424 any answers?

Sub ConvertWordsToPdfs()

    Dim directory As String
    Dim fldr As Object
    Set fldr = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
    With fldr
        .Title = "Select folder with Word files to export to PDF"
        .AllowMultiSelect = False
        If .Show <> -1 Then Exit Sub
        directory = .SelectedItems(1)
    End With
    
  
    Dim fso, newFile, folder, files
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set folder = fso.GetFolder(directory)
    Set files = folder.files
    
    For Each file In files
        Dim newName As String
        newName = Replace(file.Path, ".docx", ".pdf")
        newName = Replace(newName, ".doc", ".pdf")
        'Debug.Print file.Path
        Documents.Open Filename:=file.Path, _
            ConfirmConversions:=False, _
            ReadOnly:=False, _
            AddToRecentFiles:=False, _
            PasswordDocument:="", _
            PasswordTemplate:="", _
            Revert:=False, _
            WritePasswordDocument:="", _
            WritePasswordTemplate:="", _
            Format:= _
            wdOpenFormatAuto, _
            XMLTransform:=""
            
        ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:=newName, _
            ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF, _
            OpenAfterExport:=False, _
            OptimizeFor:= _
            wdExportOptimizeForPrint, _
            Range:=wdExportAllDocument, _
            From:=1, To:=1, _
            Item:=wdExportDocumentContent, _
            IncludeDocProps:=True, _
            KeepIRM:=True, _
            CreateBookmarks:=wdExportCreateNoBookmarks, _
            DocStructureTags:=True, _
            BitmapMissingFonts:=True, _
            UseISO19005_1:=False
        ActiveDocument.Close
      
    Next

End Sub

see https://github.com/tobya/docto