Kevin:

First, to answer your question, I suggest you use this code:

Dim sPath As String
sPath = Nz(Me.txtPathToFile, "")
If Dir(sPath) <> "" Then Application.FollowHyperlink sPath

Now, a bit of housekeeping ...

I noticed that you posted your question back as a response to your question.
This phenomenon happens way more often than I can explain, and maybe it
has something to do with some quality of the newsreader you use or some other
factor completely out of your control, but I finally feel compelled to offer
an unsolicited word of advice:
   Try not to post back to your own question.

It's really self defeating.  I can't speak for everryone who reads newsgroups,
but I know that I pay special attention to posts with no replies.  That means
they are either new or no one has come up with a response and are in special
need of attention.  By posting a reply to your own question, you flag yours as
"answered" already, when in fact it isn't.  That can't help your cause.

I use the pronoun "you" here but it's not just you, of course, who does this.
Maybe I just don't understand what's happening here, but it strikes me that
people are going out of their way to post, double post, up post, down post
side post, reverse post  ... post post post post post.  A single post is usually all
that's required to get our attention.

It might be easier to offer the user a File/Open dialog. Study this
much-quoted page: http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0001.htm

What do you want to do with the Excel file after you open it?
If nothing else, you could use the Shell command, or a bit more fancy,
the ShellExecute API.

-Tom.