Vba excel if not exists

The function that allows us to check if a file or folder exists is know as the DIR function.  The syntax for the DIR function is as follows:

DIR [( path [, attributes ])]

The PATH argument is basically an address which returns the name of your file or folder.  If the name is not found, DIR returns an empty string.

The ATTRIBUTES argument (which are optional) are listed in the below table.

ConstantVALUE	Value	Description
vbNormal	0	(Default) Files with no attributes
vbReadOnly	1	Read-only files
vbHidden	2	Hidden files
vbSystem	4	System files
vbDirectory	16	Directories or folders

The default is vbNormal, which are files with no specific attributes.  You can filter for files with a specific attribute by using the constants listed above.

An interesting thing you can use with the DIR function are wildcards.  Wildcards represent “any characters” and are useful when you want to capture multiple items in a search based on a pattern of characters.  There are two wildcard characters:

Asterisk (*) – This wildcard character will allow for any character(s) in any quantity.

Examples:  

Exc* (any text starting with “Exc”)

*el (any text ending with “el”)

Exc*el (any text starting with “Exc”, ending with “el”, and any character in between)

Question Mark (?) – This wildcards character will allow for any character in a single character position

Examples:   

??cel (The first and second characters can be anything, but the third through fifth characters must be “cel”)

Ex?el (The first and second characters must be “Ex”, the fourth and fifth characters must be “el”, but the third character can be anything)

Practical Examples

Task #1

We will use the DIR function to check if a file exists.  If the file doesn’t exist, we will display a “File does not exist” message to the user.  If the file exists, we will open the file.

Task #2

We will use the DIR function to check if a folder exists.  If the folder doesn’t exist, we will prompt the user to ask if they would like to create that folder.  If the responds with a “Yes”, we will create the folder for them.

Task #1 (Version 1) – Checking for the existence of a file

First, open the Visual Basic Editor (ALT-F11) and create an empty module (i.e. “LessonsFilesFolders”).

The DIR function returns a string, so we need to declare a variable named FileName to hold the returned value.

Dim FileName As String

The next step is to query a folder for a file and return the filename if it exists, or an empty string if the file does not exist.  We will store the response in the FileName variable we created in the previous step.

FileName = VBA.FileSystem.Dir(“your folder nameyour file name”)

In our example we will use the following code:

FileName = VBA.FileSystem.Dir(“C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS2_recordMacros_start.xlsx”)

If the file does not exist, the DIR function will return an empty string.  We will test for the empty string response with an IF statement.  If the file does not exist, we will display a message stating such.  If the file does exist, this first version will simply show the filename in a message box.

If FileName = VBA.Constants.vbNullString Then
    MsgBox "File does not exist."
Else
    MsgBox FileName
End If

The completed code should look like the following:

Sub FileExists()
Dim FileName As String
    FileName = VBA.FileSystem.Dir("C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS2_recordMacros_start.xlsx")
    If FileName = VBA.Constants.vbNullString Then
        MsgBox "File does not exist."
    Else
        MsgBox FileName
    End If
    
End Sub

Execute the code by pressing F5 and observe the response.

This confirms that the file exists in the defined folder.

Task #1 (Version 2) – Checking for the existence of a file using wildcards

Alter the code to use wildcards when searching for the filename.

FileName = VBA.FileSystem.Dir("C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS2_*start.xls?)

We will also alter the code; instead of displaying a message, we will open the requested file.

Workbooks.Open "C:UsersLGDesktopVBA" & FileName

The updated code should appear as follows:

Sub FileExists()
Dim FileName As String
    FileName = VBA.FileSystem.Dir("C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS2_*start.xls?")
    If FileName = VBA.Constants.vbNullString Then
        MsgBox "File does not exist."
    Else
        Workbooks.Open "C:UsersLGDesktopVBA" & FileName
    End If
    
End Sub

Execute the code by pressing F5 and observe that the file opens.

Task #2 – Check if a folder exists

In this task, we will check to see if a folder exists.  If the folder does not exist, we will prompt the user and ask if they would like to create the folder.

We will create two variables:

Path – Hold the full folderfilename information

Folder – Hold only the folder name

Dim Path as String
Dim Folder as String

We will set the Path variable to point to a folder that does not exist:

Path = “C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS12”

We will set the Folder variable to hold the folder location stored by the Path variable.  Because this is a folder, we will use the optional constant vbDirectory in the DIR function.

Folder = Dir(Path,vbDirectory)

As we did earlier, we will check to see if the response returns an empty string.  If the Folder variable contains an empty string, we will prompt the user to ask if they wish to create the folder.

We need to store the user’s response, so we will create a variable to hold the response.

Dim Answer as VbMsgBoxResult

If the folder does not exist, we will display a message and store the user’s response in the Answer variable.

Answer = MsgBox("Path does not exist. Would you like to create it?", vbYesNo, "Create Path?")

Now we will test the answer.  We will use a Case statement to test the response.

If the user responds with “Yes”, we will create the folder.  If the user responds with anything else, we will exit the subroutine.

Select Case Answer
    Case vbYes
        VBA.FileSystem.MkDir (Path)
    Case Else
        Exit Sub
End Select

If the folder does exist, we will inform the user of its existence with a message box response.

Else
    MsgBox "Folder exists."

The completed code should look like the following:

Sub Path_Exists()
Dim Path As String
Dim Folder As String
Dim Answer As VbMsgBoxResult
    Path = "C:UsersLGDesktopVBAS12"
    Folder = Dir(Path, vbDirectory)
 
    If Folder = vbNullString Then
        Answer = MsgBox("Path does not exist. Would you like to create it?", vbYesNo, "Create Path?")
        Select Case Answer
            Case vbYes
                VBA.FileSystem.MkDir (Path)
            Case Else
                Exit Sub
        End Select
    Else
        MsgBox "Folder exists."
    End If
End Sub

Execute the code by pressing F5.  Because the folder does not exist, we are presented with the following message prompt.

If we answer “Yes”, the folder is created.

If we execute the macro a second time, we see the following response.

This is because the folder was created in the previous test.

Conclusion

We have demonstrated how you can use the DIR function to test whether a file or folder exists and decide what actions you wish to perform depending on the outcome of the test.

Practice Workbook

Feel free to Download the Workbook HERE.

VBA Check If Folder Exists If Not Create It in specified name using VBA in Excel. We are using 2 methods to check folder exists or not. Those are Dir VBA function and FileSystemObject object. In the following tutorial let us see an example macro code. And also see the step by step instructions to run vba code in the visual basic editor(VBE) window.

Table of Contents:

• Objective
• Example to Check If Folder Exists If Not Create It using VBA Dir Function
• VBA Checking If Folder Exists If Not Create It using FileSystemObject(FSO) Object
• Instructions to Run VBA Macro Code
• Other Useful Resources

Example to Check If Folder Exists If Not Create It using VBA Dir Function

Let us see an example macro to check specified folder exists or not. If it is not available create a new folder using VBA Dir function to check folder exists or not. First we are checking specified folder is available or not. If it exists, then displays message on the screen. If doesn’t exists, creating new folder using VBA MkDir function. After successfully creating folder displaying message on the screen for user notification.

'VBA Checking If Folder Exists If Not Create It using Dir Function
Sub VBAF1_Checking_If_Folder_Exists_If_Not_Create_It_Using_Dir_Function()
    
     'Variable declaration
    Dim sFolderPath As String
    Dim oFSO As Object
    
    'Define Folder Path
    sFolderPath = "C:VBAF1Files and Folders"
        
    'Check Specified Folder exists or not
    If Dir(sFolderPath) <> "" Then
        'If file is available
        MsgBox "Folder already exists!", vbInformation, "VBAF1"
        Exit Sub
    End If
         
    'If folder is not available
    MkDir sFolderPath
    
    'Display Message
    MsgBox "New folder has created successfully!", vbInformation, "VBAF1"
    
End Sub

Output: You can find following output screenshot for your reference. You can see different outputs in the screen shot. If folder available it displays first message. 2nd message displays when folder is created newly.

VBA Checking If Folder Exists If Not Create It using FileSystemObject(FSO) Object

Let us another example macro to check specified Folder exists or not. If it is not available create a new Folder using VBA FileSystemObject(FSO) object to check Folder exists or not. In the below example VBA MkDir function helping us to create new folder.

'VBA Checking If Folder Exists If Not Create It using FSO Object
Sub VBAF1_Check_If_Folder_Exists_If_Not_Create_It_Using_FSO_Object()
    
    'Variable declaration
    Dim sFolderPath As String
    Dim oFSO As Object
    
    'Define Folder Path
    sFolderPath = "C:VBAF1Files and Folders2"
    
    'Create FSO Object
    Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    
    'Check Specified Folder exists or not
    If oFSO.FolderExists(sFolderPath) Then
        'If Folder is available
        MsgBox "Folder already exists!", vbInformation, "VBAF1"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    'If folder is not available
    MkDir sFolderPath
    
    'Display Message
    MsgBox "New folder has created successfully!", vbInformation, "VBAF1"
    
End Sub

Instructions to Run VBA Macro Code or Procedure:

You can refer the following link for the step by step instructions.

Instructions to run VBA Macro Code

Other Useful Resources:

Click on the following links of the useful resources. These helps to learn and gain more knowledge.

VBA Tutorial VBA Functions List VBA Arrays VBA Text Files VBA Tables

VBA Editor Keyboard Shortcut Keys List VBA Interview Questions & Answers Blog