From Outlook, read value of a cell in a closed (or open) Excel file

While writing an email in Outlook, I want to run a script that will read the value of a cell in an Excel file that may or may not be open. (There's more to it than that, but I'll be able to figure the rest out once I figure out how to get Outlook to read the Excel sheet).

But I can't even get Outlook to create an instance of Excel...

Code:

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Dim excelApp as Object
set ExcelApp = createobject("Excel.Application")

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gives me errors.

Can someone get me started on reading the value of cell D4 in c:\myfile.xls from Outlook without having to open the Excel file?

I would be very grateful!! THANK YOU!

Perhaps ensuring Microsoft Excel 16.0 Object Library is enabled in my Outlook VBA references?!

You don't need the Excel object library reference. This is fast if Excel is already open. Extracting the cell without opening Excel is a challenge without seeing the worksheet.

Code:

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Sub Macro1()
Dim xlApp As Object
Dim xlWB As Object
Dim bXL As Boolean, bWB As Boolean
Dim sText As String
Const sPath As String = "C:\"
Const sWB As String = "myfile.xls"
    On Error Resume Next
    Set xlApp = GetObject(, "Excel.Application")
    If Err <> 0 Then
        Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
        bXL = True
    End If
    On Error GoTo 0
    xlApp.Visible = True
    For Each xlWB In xlApp.workbooks
        If xlWB.Name = sWB Then
            bWB = True
            Exit For
        End If
    Next xlWB
    If bWB = False Then
        Set xlWB = xlApp.workbooks.Open(sPath & sWB)
    End If
    sText = xlWB.sheets(1).Range("D4")
    Debug.Print  sText 'do something with sText
    xlWB.Close 0
    If bXL = True Then xlApp.Quit
    Set xlWB = Nothing
    Set xlApp = Nothing
End Sub

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