"Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

**snolem75** · 06-22-2018, 03:04 PM

Hello and happy Friday!

I get this message every time I open excel:
"Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

This happens every single time I open a file in excel or even when I just run excel to open a blank sheet and haven't even opened a named file.

I've tried using the Microsoft Office 365 online repair tool and I still have this issue.

As a result... Every single file I open is opening in a separate instance of Excel so I cannot use formulas between them... Extremely frustrating.

I haven't had any luck searching the forum or Google because all I see there are suggestions to rename the file... This won't help me because this happens no matter what.

I am using office 365 2016 version on Windows 10 64-bit.

If anyone has any way to fix this I'd be very grateful.

Thank you in advance for your time and your replies.

Have an amazing weekend everyone

Cheers!

**JLGWhiz** · 06-22-2018, 03:48 PM

What do you have set up on auto open? It sounds like you have an the system set to auto open on a certain file or files, and one of those files has an workbook_open or worksheet_activate macro that could be calling the same workbook. Just a guess. Not sure how to fix it without seeing the actual events.

**snolem75** · 06-22-2018, 07:33 PM

Thank you very much for the reply! I unfortunately am not familiar with the auto open function. I haven't set up anything myself. Where would I look for this?

Thank you again in advance for your time!!!!!

Have a nice weekend

**scottiex** · 06-22-2018, 08:17 PM

do you have anything in this folder ?

%appdata%\microsoft\excel\xlstart

If so do they have any macros?

**JLGWhiz** · 06-23-2018, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by snolem75

Thank you very much for the reply! I unfortunately am not familiar with the auto open function. I haven't set up anything myself. Where would I look for this?

Thank you again in advance for your time!!!!!

Have a nice weekend

You are probably going to need someone locally who has some experience with Excel and file maitenance to help you look for the cause of the issue.

**6StringJazzer** · 06-23-2018, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by scottiex

do you have anything in this folder ?

%appdata%\microsoft\excel\xlstart

If so do they have any macros?

This is where I would look. It doesn't even have to involve macros. If you have two files like this

PERSONAL.xlsb
PERSONAL.xls

then it will try to open both when you start Excel and complain about the name.

**snolem75** · 06-28-2018, 05:05 PM

2018-06-28 14_01_07-XLSTART.png

That is what I have in that folder.... It is an add-on that allows me to hold me to scroll left and right with the mouse wheel (instead of up and down) when I am holding control.

Getting rid of that seemed to solve it though. Although I'd prefer to be able to use it, hahaha!

Thank you very much for your time!!!!!!

**Zer0Cool** · 06-29-2018, 09:44 AM

As others have mentioned, this is one of those rare times that Excel actually gives a meaningful error message. It comes when you literally try and open a file with the same exact name, I think extension included. For example I think workbook.xlsx and workbook.xls can be opened at the same time but not workbook.xlsx and workbook.xlsx.

Without seeing the code of the addin its hard to say how to correct the issue besides disabling it. If its attempting to open something thats already open (like personal.xlsb) or is creating a chain of opening files that results in trying to open a file more than once thats the problem.

I havent seen anyone else state it yet, but there are actually numerous xlstart folders. To find them go to File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Trusted Locations. This should list paths to at least 2x xlstart folders, a Startup folder, 1 or more template folders as well. Anything in those paths is likely being opened when Excel opens. Go to each path and check. Be aware that any locations that dont have wording like startup, xlstart and templates isnt likely opening files at startup. There could be locations in this list added by you or IT for things like network locations which is fine.

**rorya** · 06-29-2018, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by snolem75

Getting rid of that seemed to solve it though. Although I'd prefer to be able to use it, hahaha!

Do you have that add-in checked in the Add-in manager? If so, Excel would try to open two copies of it, and that would cause the problem. If you put the add-in into the addins folder, you should be able to avoid the issue.

**NinjaUnmatched** · 04-21-2022, 12:26 PM

Hello I have a file doing this and it does have a macro.. The error comes when you try to run the macro. The macro's job is to just save the file as PDF and add data from 2 fields to the filename. It started doing this when I moved the file to another folder.

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

**6StringJazzer** · 04-21-2022, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by NinjaUnmatched

Hello I have a file doing this

Welcome to the Forum NinjaUnmatched!

Administrative Note:

Welcome to the forum.

We are happy to help, however whilst you feel your request is similar to this thread, experience has shown that things soon get confusing when answers refer to particular cells/ranges/sheets which are unique to your post and not relevant to the original.

Please see Forum Rule #4 about hijacking and start a new thread for your query.

If you are not familiar with how to start a new thread see the FAQ: How to start a new thread

**Atom** · 12-17-2023, 08:53 AM

I am having this problem. I have several PC's and have installed MS Office 365 on all of them. When I do a new install of Windows and Office, I copy my Personal.xlsb file which has all my macros to this folder: "C:\Users\Tom\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART". I also import my QAT customizations. Other time I've done this everything works normally, but this time when I try to run a macro I get a prompt about Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern. If I click on enable, then I get the "Sorry, Excel cannot open two workbooks...". I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Office 365, but no luck. I only have a single Personal.xlsb file on this computer. It has dual bootable hard drives. One Win 11 and one Win 10. The Win11 one works ok, but the Win 10 one does not. I have identified this problem on a different Win 11 computer where I do not use Excel very often.

Thanks for any guidance.

**AliGW** · 12-17-2023, 08:59 AM

Administrative Note:

We are happy to help, however whilst you feel your request is similar or even the same to this thread, we prefer you to open your own thread on the issue.

Please see Forum Rule #1 about hijacking and start a new thread for your query.

If you are not familiar with how to start a new thread see the FAQ: How to start a new thread

"Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

"Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Re: "Sorry, Excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time."

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

Similar Threads

Unable to "Open" an exported excel (97-2003) during run time in Macros (Excel - 2010)

How to use "CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Popup" in different workbooks at the same time.

Workbooks("").Close Crashes Excel With Mutiple Workbooks Open

Excel 2007 unable to "see" other open workbooks

Possible to change default "All Open Workbooks" to "This Workbook" in macro dialogue box?

use variable in Workbooks("book1").Worksheets("sheet1").Range("a1"

Excel:I set the font color to be "Red". Next time file is open, f.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions