FileDialogFilters Collection

A collection of FileDialogFilter objects that represent the types of files that can be selected in a file dialog box that is displayed using the FileDialog object.

Using the FileDialogFilters collection

Use the Filters property of the FileDialog object to return a FileDialogFilters collection. The following code returns the FileDialogFilters collection for the File Open dialog box.

Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen).Filters

Use the Add method to add FileDialogFilter objects to the FileDialogFilters collection. The following example uses the Clear method to clear the collection and then adds filters to the collection. The Clear method completely empties the collection; however, if you don't add any filters to the collection after you clear it, the "All files (*.*)" filter is added automatically.

Sub Main()

    'Declare a variable as a FileDialog object.
    Dim fd As FileDialog

    'Create a FileDialog object as a File Picker dialog box.
    Set fd = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)

    'Declare a variable to contain the path
    'of each selected item. Even though the path is a String,
    'the variable must be a Variant because For Each...Next
    'routines only work with Variants and Objects.
    Dim vrtSelectedItem As Variant

    'Use a With...End With block to reference the FileDialog object.
    With fd

        'Change the contents of the Files of Type list.
        'Empty the list by clearing the FileDialogFilters collection.
        .Filters.Clear

        'Add a filter that includes all files.
        .Filters.Add "All files", "*.*"

        'Add a filter that includes GIF and JPEG images and make it the first item in the list.
        .Filters.Add "Images", "*.gif; *.jpg; *.jpeg", 1

        'Use the Show method to display the File Picker dialog box and return the user's action.
        'The user pressed the action button.
        If .Show = -1 Then

            'Step through each String in the FileDialogSelectedItems collection.
            For Each vrtSelectedItem In .SelectedItems

                'vrtSelectedItem is a String that contains the path of each selected item.
                'You can use any file I/O functions that you want to work with this path.
                'This example simply displays the path in a message box.
                MsgBox "Path name: " & vrtSelectedItem

            Next vrtSelectedItem
        'The user pressed Cancel.
        Else
        End If
    End With

    'Set the object variable to Nothing.
    Set fd = Nothing

End Sub
		

When changing the FileDialogFilters collection, remember that each application can only instantiate a single FileDialog object. This means that the FileDialogFilters collection will reset to its default filters whenever you call the FileDialog method with a new dialog box type.

The following example iterates through the default filters of the SaveAs dialog box and displays the description of each filter that includes a Microsoft Excel file.

Sub Main()

    'Declare a variable as a FileDialogFilters collection.
    Dim fdfs As FileDialogFilters

    'Declare a variable as a FileDialogFilter object.
    Dim fdf As FileDialogFilter

    'Set the FileDialogFilters collection variable to
    'the FileDialogFilters collection of the SaveAs dialog box.
    Set fdfs = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogSaveAs).Filters

    'Iterate through the description and extensions of each
    'default filter in the SaveAs dialog box.
    For Each fdf In fdfs

        'Display the description of filters that include
        'Microsoft Excel files
        If InStr(1, fdf.Extensions, "xls", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
            MsgBox "Description of filter: " & fdf.Description
        End If
    Next fdf

End Sub
		

Note  A run-time error will occur if the Filters property is used in conjunction with the Clear, Add, or Delete methods when applied to a Save As FileDiaog object. For example, Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogSaveAs).Filters.Clear will result in a run-time error.