** Word 97 causes a problem - shellEx returns too quickly ** causing getObject to fail ( the object isn't fully loaded). ** we'll try a number of times and then fail... oldEHandler = on("error") eCode = 0 nRetries = 0 * an error will set eCode to non-zero... on error eCode = error() veryTopWord = getObject(theFile) do while (nRetries < SW_WordRetries) and (eCode <> 0) statusMsg("Retrying Word communication...") doEvents eCode = 0 veryTopWord = getObject(theFile) nRetries = nRetries+1 doEvents =inkey(SW_wordRetrySecs) doEvents endDo if type("veryTopWord") <> "O" oopsMsg("Sorry, I was unable to launch Word for this document [1].") thisForm.killFile(theFile) return endif>I also have a problem automating word from VFP 7.0.