How to use FileLen function in VBA?

The FileLen function in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is used to get the size of a file in bytes. Before you use it, make sure that the file exists because if the file is not found, the function will trigger a runtime error.

Here is how you can use the FileLen function in VBA

Open Excel and press ALT + F11 to open the VBA editor.
Insert a new module by right-clicking on any existing module or on the VBAProject, then choose Insert > Module.
In the module, you can create a new subprocedure and use the FileLen function within it.

Example

VBA


Sub GetFileSize()
    Dim filePath As String
    Dim fileSize As Long

    ' Set the path to the file.
    filePath = "C:examplemyfile.txt"
    
    ' Check if the file exists to prevent a runtime error.
    If Dir(filePath) <> "" Then
        ' Retrieve the file size in bytes.
        fileSize = FileLen(filePath)
        MsgBox "The size of the file is: " & fileSize & " bytes.", vbInformation
    Else
        MsgBox "File not found: " & filePath, vbExclamation
    End If
End Sub

When you run the GetFileSize subroutine, it will display a message box with the size of the specified file in bytes.

Notes

You must have the necessary file permissions to access the file.
In case the file is especially large, you might want to use a Double or Currency type instead of Long to avoid overflow errors, though starting with VBA 7 (in Office 2010 and later), Long is sufficient for files up to 2 GB.
The Dir function is used before FileLen to check if the file exists to avoid a runtime error.