The common dialog box is not automatically registered. It depends on the Office installation options and on other programs that might also use it - because some programs use the .OCX that Access normally uses, but Pat Hartman has shown another way to do that with the COMDLG32.DLL file that is ALSO on some Windows systems. So whether the .OCX or the .DLL is active on your systems depends on lots of complex ifs, ands, and buts. So let's just assume that the common dialog file is present but not properly referenced by Access on the machines that have trouble.
COMDLG32.OCX (the Active/X version) has to be made available as a reference AND has to be registered as a second step. The same is true for COMCTL32.OCX vs. the .DLL version. (That's the Common Controls file. They usually go together.)
Anyway, get to one of the PCs that has the problem. Open up any code window - class module or general module, makes no difference. You will see the Menu bar change (AC97) or will get a new menu bar on the code window (AC2K).
OK, on the code window menu bar, follow
Tools>>References.
That will bring up a complex dialog box. If you select one of the lines in the box, the name and path of the file that embodies that reference will be displayed at the bottom of the box. That might help you by showing you what file Access is seeking.
Check for the "Common Dialog" module. Several possibilities exist here.
1. If it exists but isn't checked, check it.
2. It isn't in the list at all.
3. It is in the list and is checked, but the word MISSING (yes, in all caps) precedes the module name.
4. It exists, is checked, and isn't missing.
In cases 2 & 3, use the browse button of the dialog box to find the required file in your Windows directory, probably in the SYSTEM32 folder, with a name like COMDLG32.OCX. Select that file via double-click. Make sure it is checked in the References dialog box. Then close that box and try again.
In cases 1 & 4, or if the reference activation didn't help, the next step is to follow menu bar option
Tools>>Active X...
to a dialog box that will allow you to REGISTER your Active-X controls. Try to find the COMDLG32.OCX file through that box. Try to register the OCX file.
NOTE: There can be one more speed bump in the way. If you cannot register the file, search this forum for the topic "Register Active X" or "Register Common Dialog" - at least a couple of articles have links to MS Knowledge Base articles that address that problem. I don't have the reference at hand so can't repeat it to you. But that should get things going for you.
