What is a .hta file

Without having to install any additional software, any analyst or other corporate person can use VBA to achieve automation of certain tasks. In a series of posts I will want to encourage some VBA devs to explore some alternatives and new programming possibilities. HTA is the abbreviation for Html Application. See the Wiki page for more details. Well now, some might say, is it simply a HTML file then?

Well, hta file have elevated security privileges allowing them to run like regular desktop apps! HTA can run like desktop applications being embedded in Internet Explorer instead of e. Excel or Word in case of VBA. Additionally as these are HTML files you can build a rich user interface and a much more pleasant user experience.

From my experience many VBA developers refrain from learning other programming languages, noticing that basically they build roughly any solution or automation resorting only to VBA. This is a common trap due to which many MS Office-based monster-complex solutions are developed which should not have seen the light of day. I have seen many monsters… from complex BI models calculations running for hours to … complex databases shared by multiple users at the same time oh the horror!

Although all these solutions were quite amazing they pushed the limits of VBA more than they should. Rather I would like to show some alternatives. I know this comes as a shock for some so I promise we will stick with Visual Basic for now. So now let us say we want to build a regular desktop app not one hosted with an Excel or Word application.

Assuming we do not want to move to more complex solutions like. Create a text file and change the extension to. Simple huh? This tag defines the HTA application and includes params that let you specify how the application window will look like. As HTA files have elevated rights I like to think of them as Vbscript files extended with a user interface. You will need a program compatible with the specific file you are trying to open, as different programs may use files with file extension HTA for different purposes.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested 10 different HTA openers which you will find listed below. Suggest another file format using extension HTA While we know of one file format using the. HTA file extension, there may be more. It is widespread that different programs use files with the same file extension for very different types of data. Please let us know if you are aware of a different kind of. HTA file. These apps are known to open certain types of HTA files.

Remember, different programs may use HTA files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file. Not sure exactly what type of file you are trying to open? Try our new File Analyzer. It is a free tool that can identify more than 11, different kinds of files - most likely yours too! It will help you find software that can handle your specific type of file.

Download File Analyzer here. Update info Upload example file. Various viewers for this file format These apps are known to open certain types of HTA files.