How to use VBA SaveAs without closing calling workbook?

Question

I want to:

• Do data manipulation using a Template workbook
• Save a copy of this work book as .xlsx (SaveCopyAs doesn't let you change filetypes, otherwise this would be great)
• Continue showing original template (not the "saved as" one)

Using SaveAs does exactly what is expected - it saves the workbook while removing the macros and presents me the view of the newly created SavedAs workbook.

This unfortunately means:

• I no longer am viewing my macro enabled workbook unless I reopen it
• Code execution stops at this point because
• Any macro changes are discarded if I forget to save (note: for a production environment this is ok, but, for development, it's a huge pain)

Is there a way I can do this?

'current code
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
templateWb.SaveAs FileName:=savePath, FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbook, CreateBackup:=False
templateWb.Activate
Application.DisplayAlerts = True

'I don't really want to make something like this work (this fails, anyways)
Dim myTempStr As String
myTempStr = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & ThisWorkbook.Name
ThisWorkbook.Save
templateWb.SaveAs FileName:=savePath, FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbook, CreateBackup:=False
ActiveWorkbook.Close
Workbooks.Open (myTempStr)

'I want to do something like:
templateWb.SaveCopyAs FileName:=savePath, FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbook, CreateBackup:=False 'SaveCopyAs only takes one argument, that being FileName

Also note while SaveCopyAs will let me save it as a different type (ie templateWb.SaveCopyAs FileName:="myXlsx.xlsx") this gives an error when opening it because it now has an invalid file format.

Answer 1

Here is a much faster method than using .SaveCopyAs to create a copy an then open that copy and do a save as...

As mentioned in my comments, this process takes approx 1 second to create an xlsx copy from a workbook which has 10 worksheets (Each with 100 rows * 20 Cols of data)

Sub Sample()
    Dim thisWb As Workbook, wbTemp As Workbook
    Dim ws As Worksheet

    On Error GoTo Whoa

    Application.DisplayAlerts = False

    Set thisWb = ThisWorkbook
    Set wbTemp = Workbooks.Add

    On Error Resume Next
    For Each ws In wbTemp.Worksheets
        ws.Delete
    Next
    On Error GoTo 0

    For Each ws In thisWb.Sheets
        ws.Copy After:=wbTemp.Sheets(1)
    Next

    wbTemp.Sheets(1).Delete
    wbTemp.SaveAs "C:\Blah Blah.xlsx", 51

LetsContinue:
    Application.DisplayAlerts = True
    Exit Sub
Whoa:
    MsgBox Err.Description
    Resume LetsContinue
End Sub

Answer 2

I did something similar to what Siddharth suggested and wrote a function to do it as well as handle some of the annoyances and offer some more flexibility.

Sub saveExample()
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False

    mySaveCopyAs ThisWorkbook, "C:\Temp\testfile2", xlOpenXMLWorkbook

    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Private Function mySaveCopyAs(pWorkbookToBeSaved As Workbook, pNewFileName As String, pFileFormat As XlFileFormat) As Boolean

    'returns false on errors
    On Error GoTo errHandler



     If pFileFormat = xlOpenXMLWorkbookMacroEnabled Then
        'no macros can be saved on this
        mySaveCopyAs = False
        Exit Function
    End If

    'create new workbook
    Dim mSaveWorkbook As Workbook
    Set mSaveWorkbook = Workbooks.Add

    Dim initialSheets As Integer
    initialSheets = mSaveWorkbook.Sheets.Count


    'note: sheet names will be 'Sheet1 (2)' in copy otherwise if
    'they are not renamed
    Dim sheetNames() As String
    Dim activeSheetIndex As Integer
    activeSheetIndex = pWorkbookToBeSaved.ActiveSheet.Index

    Dim i As Integer
    'copy each sheet
    For i = 1 To pWorkbookToBeSaved.Sheets.Count
        pWorkbookToBeSaved.Sheets(i).Copy After:=mSaveWorkbook.Sheets(mSaveWorkbook.Sheets.Count)
        ReDim Preserve sheetNames(1 To i) As String
        sheetNames(i) = pWorkbookToBeSaved.Sheets(i).Name
    Next i

    'clear sheets from new workbook
    Application.DisplayAlerts = False
    For i = 1 To initialSheets
        mSaveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Delete
    Next i

    'rename stuff
    For i = 1 To UBound(sheetNames)
        mSaveWorkbook.Sheets(i).Name = sheetNames(i)
    Next i

    'reset view
    mSaveWorkbook.Sheets(activeSheetIndex).Activate

    'save and close
    mSaveWorkbook.SaveAs FileName:=pNewFileName, FileFormat:=pFileFormat, CreateBackup:=False
    mSaveWorkbook.Close
    mySaveCopyAs = True

    Application.DisplayAlerts = True
    Exit Function

errHandler:
    'whatever else you want to do with error handling
    mySaveCopyAs = False
    Exit Function


End Function