>>I tried
>>

>>if vartype(loWord.visible) = 'U'
>>   loWord = createobject("Word.Application")
>>endif
>>

>>
>>I get an error message that "RPC server is unavailable". How do I check if the server is available?
>>
>
>Strange error and strange check. Did you first check that loWord is an object?

I tried that first and it returned 'O'
>
>Always wrap createobject in try/catch block.

I have not used try/catch blocks yet. How would I do that?