Here is what I did:
Opened Access
Opened VB Editor
Clicked on Help
Typed in "Shell"
Here's what I got:
Shell Function
Runs an executable program and returns a Variant (Double) representing the
program's task ID if successful, otherwise it returns zero.
Syntax
Shell(pathname[,windowstyle])
The Shell function syntax has these named arguments:
Part Description
pathname Required; Variant (String). Name of the program to execute and any
required arguments or command-line switches; may include directory or folder
and drive. On the Macintosh, you can use the MacID function to specify an
application's signature instead of its name. The following example uses the
signature for Microsoft Word:
Shell MacID("MSWD")
windowstyle Optional. Variant (Integer) corresponding to the style of the
window in which the program is to be run. If windowstyle is omitted, the
program is started minimized with focus. On the Macintosh (System 7.0 or
later), windowstyle only determines whether or not the application gets the
focus when it is run.
The windowstyle named argument has these values:
Constant Value Description
vbHide 0 Window is hidden and focus is passed to the hidden window. The
vbHide constant is not applicable on Macintosh platforms.
vbNormalFocus 1 Window has focus and is restored to its original size and
position.
vbMinimizedFocus 2 Window is displayed as an icon with focus.
vbMaximizedFocus 3 Window is maximized with focus.
vbNormalNoFocus 4 Window is restored to its most recent size and position.
The currently active window remains active.
vbMinimizedNoFocus 6 Window is displayed as an icon. The currently active
window remains active.
Remarks
If the Shell function successfully executes the named file, it returns the
task ID of the started program. The task ID is a unique number that
identifies the running program. If the Shell function can't start the named
program, an error occurs.
On the Macintosh, vbNormalFocus, vbMinimizedFocus, and vbMaximizedFocus all
place the application in the foreground; vbHide, vbNoFocus, vbMinimizeFocus
all place the application in the background.
Note By default, the Shell function runs other programs asynchronously.
This means that a program started with Shell might not finish executing
before the statements following the Shell function are executed