Complicated problem

[rmalone]

Apologies in advance for asking what will surely be dumb questions, but I'm very new to this program.

I need to create and link graphics based on standard text fields that are being dumped into an MS Word template. There are also some inline graphics in these fields, which need to be included in the final graphics. Then, once I create the final versions, I need to link them into an archaic DOS-based system so that they can be used by cavemen around the world, who are stuck using this archaic software.

My macro will have several parts:

1. Copy from Word template into an intermediary Word template that has the layout of the graphics (necessary because I can't get the inline graphics into Photoshop otherwise - see step 3)
2. Take a screenshot of the Word template and save the template with data for that item for archival purposes.
3. Paste the screenshot into Photoshop, crop to a set size, and save the output as a JPG file.
4. Link the JPG file into the archaic system through a complicated, but easy enough, repeatable series of keystrokes.

Now, despite the number of steps, I thought this would be easy....but I can't even get past step 1. When I try copying the table fields from one Word doc to another, the Scheduler sometimes hangs, requiring me to intervene. Sometimes it skips a line of text from the template, which then means the next line gets pasted in the wrong field, and everything gets screwed up. Sometimes it won't save the file correctly (more often than not).

I have been able to run the program through parts of the cycle between 1 and 15 times, but I will need to get it up to more like 2000 for it to help. I am planning on making a few different macros, for each major step, instead of trying it all in one swoop. But even this way, I usually hang or have some sort of trouble around 3-5 passes through the loop.

I'm not asking for specific help yet, because I don't think I'm ready for that. I need to know what it is, in general, that is causing these problems. Then I can modify my macro to get more consistent results.

Did this even make sense?

[Me_again]

It would help if you could post the macro you have written.

[Marcus Tettmar]

How are you trying to copy the Word table? You don't provide any code so we can't tell you what's wrong with it.