@Graham -- can you expand on the pXPath part in your sub?
Is the .CustomXML... restricted to Word?
Private Function GetPublishDate() As String 'Graham Mayor Dim oCustPart As CustomXMLPart Dim oNode As CustomXMLNode Dim pXPath As String pXPath = "/ns0:CoverPageProperties[1]/ns0:PublishDate[1]" Set oCustPart = ActiveDocument.CustomXMLParts(3) Set oNode = oCustPart.SelectSingleNode(pXPath) GetPublishDate = oNode.Text Set oCustPart = Nothing Set oNode = Nothing lbl_Exit: Exit Function End Function