How to create and write to a txt file using VBA

Solution 1:

Use FSO to create the file and write to it.

Dim fso as Object
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim oFile as Object
Set oFile = FSO.CreateTextFile(strPath)
oFile.WriteLine "test" 
oFile.Close
Set fso = Nothing
Set oFile = Nothing    

See the documentation here:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee198742.aspx
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee198716.aspx

Solution 2:

Open ThisWorkbook.Path & "\template.txt" For Output As #1
Print #1, strContent
Close #1

More Information:

• Microsoft Docs : Open statement
• Microsoft Docs : Print # statement
• Microsoft Docs : Close statement
• wellsr.com : VBA write to text file with Print Statement
• Office Support : Workbook.Path property

Solution 3:

To elaborate on Ben's answer:

If you add a reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime and correctly type the variable fso you can take advantage of autocompletion (Intellisense) and discover the other great features of FileSystemObject.

Here is a complete example module:

Option Explicit

' Go to Tools -> References... and check "Microsoft Scripting Runtime" to be able to use
' the FileSystemObject which has many useful features for handling files and folders
Public Sub SaveTextToFile()

    Dim filePath As String
    filePath = "C:\temp\MyTestFile.txt"

    ' The advantage of correctly typing fso as FileSystemObject is to make autocompletion
    ' (Intellisense) work, which helps you avoid typos and lets you discover other useful
    ' methods of the FileSystemObject
    Dim fso As FileSystemObject
    Set fso = New FileSystemObject
    Dim fileStream As TextStream

    ' Here the actual file is created and opened for write access
    Set fileStream = fso.CreateTextFile(filePath)

    ' Write something to the file
    fileStream.WriteLine "something"

    ' Close it, so it is not locked anymore
    fileStream.Close

    ' Here is another great method of the FileSystemObject that checks if a file exists
    If fso.FileExists(filePath) Then
        MsgBox "Yay! The file was created! :D"
    End If

    ' Explicitly setting objects to Nothing should not be necessary in most cases, but if
    ' you're writing macros for Microsoft Access, you may want to uncomment the following
    ' two lines (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/517202/2822719 for details):
    'Set fileStream = Nothing
    'Set fso = Nothing

End Sub