Macros stand alone from applications in AppleScript

The most obvious difference between Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and AppleScript is that VBA macros run within an application's documents or templates, while AppleScript macros are stand-alone applications or scripts that run from the operating system's Script menu. In fact, AppleScript macros are actually run by the System Events background application.

Identify applications in tell blocks

In AppleScript, in order to call a command or access an object in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or any other application, you must direct your code to the application in a tell block, as shown below:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
	save as active document file name myDocName 
	file format format text
	-- all your other Word-specific code
end tell

If you don't frame the code within a tell block, it won't compile, let alone run, as shown in the following example:

save as active document file name myDocName 
file format format text

When you compile, you get the following error message:

Syntax Error : A class name can't go after this identifier.

In this error, active document is selected behind the error message. That's because save and as are both reserved AppleScript terms, whereas neither active nor active document are defined terms outside of a Wordtell block. So, the AppleScript compiler thinks that active is a variable. The reserved term document cannot follow a variable without an appropriate preposition between them, such as the following example:

save as active in document file name

This code compiles before hitting another error at myDocName, but it doesn't mean anything outside of Word and can't run without generating the following error:

AppleScript Error: Can't make file name into type reference

Therefore, always remember to include the tell block when calling Word commands or classes.

Invoking one application from another

Invoking one Microsoft Office application from another is easy in AppleScript. It makes no difference whether your script is primarily for one application or another. For example, when you call either Word or Excel, you type tell application "Microsoft Word" or tell application "Microsoft Excel", and neither application is running the script.

For example, a VBA Excel macro can use a lot of code to get an existing instance of Word or to create a new instance, as in the following example:

On Error Resume Next
 
Set oWord = GetObject(,"Word.Application")
If Err Then
	Set oWord = New Word.Application 
	WordWasNotRunning = True 
End If 

In AppleScript, you can delete all that code. Instead, you end tell your Excel block, and then start a new tell application "Microsoft Word" block. If Word is not open, this instruction opens it.

Your only additional step is to decide whether you now want to bring Word to the front. If you do, type the first line of the Word block as follows:

activate

If Word is already open, activate brings it to the front. If it isn't open, activate does not add anything since Word automatically comes to the front anyway, but it's okay to include it.

If you want Word to stay in the background, type the first line of the Word block as follows:

launch

If Word is already open in the background, launch does nothing.