Can you open a new spreadsheet in a new program window?

The problem is that double-clicking a spreadsheet doesn't open a new instance
of Excel, it opens it in the current one. Then when you click the close "x"
in the upper right hand corner of the window, it closes ALL your workbooks,
not just the current one. This is not consistent with the way Word works
where opening a new Word document will open a whole new program window. Can I
change a setting to make Excel behave like Word?

I've tried this solution from [email protected] to no avail:

"The answer involves changing the file association stuff in windows. Go
to explorer, choose tools, then folder options. Click the File Types
tab. Scroll down to the XLS extension. Click the Advanced button.
Choose "open", then click the edit button.

At the end of the "Application used" entry, you'll probably see: /e
After this, add: "%1" (be sure to include the quotes.)

Then uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox. Then click OK. (Windows re-checks
it at some point for some reason, but it still works)

OK your way out of the file types dialog.

Now when you double-click a spreadsheet, it will open it in a new
instance of Excel. "

Tools-->Options-->View and check Windows in taskbar.
************
Anne Troy
www.OfficeArticles.com

"3R''s" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The problem is that double-clicking a spreadsheet doesn't open a new
> instance
> of Excel, it opens it in the current one. Then when you click the close
> "x"
> in the upper right hand corner of the window, it closes ALL your
> workbooks,
> not just the current one. This is not consistent with the way Word works
> where opening a new Word document will open a whole new program window.
> Can I
> change a setting to make Excel behave like Word?
>
> I've tried this solution from [email protected] to no avail:
>
> "The answer involves changing the file association stuff in windows. Go
> to explorer, choose tools, then folder options. Click the File Types
> tab. Scroll down to the XLS extension. Click the Advanced button.
> Choose "open", then click the edit button.
>
> At the end of the "Application used" entry, you'll probably see: /e
> After this, add: "%1" (be sure to include the quotes.)
>
> Then uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox. Then click OK. (Windows re-checks
> it at some point for some reason, but it still works)
>
> OK your way out of the file types dialog.
>
> Now when you double-click a spreadsheet, it will open it in a new
> instance of Excel. "

It was already checked, but thanks for your reply!

"Anne Troy" wrote:

> Tools-->Options-->View and check Windows in taskbar.
> ************
> Anne Troy
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
> "3R''s" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > The problem is that double-clicking a spreadsheet doesn't open a new
> > instance
> > of Excel, it opens it in the current one. Then when you click the close
> > "x"
> > in the upper right hand corner of the window, it closes ALL your
> > workbooks,
> > not just the current one. This is not consistent with the way Word works
> > where opening a new Word document will open a whole new program window.
> > Can I
> > change a setting to make Excel behave like Word?
> >
> > I've tried this solution from [email protected] to no avail:
> >
> > "The answer involves changing the file association stuff in windows. Go
> > to explorer, choose tools, then folder options. Click the File Types
> > tab. Scroll down to the XLS extension. Click the Advanced button.
> > Choose "open", then click the edit button.
> >
> > At the end of the "Application used" entry, you'll probably see: /e
> > After this, add: "%1" (be sure to include the quotes.)
> >
> > Then uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox. Then click OK. (Windows re-checks
> > it at some point for some reason, but it still works)
> >
> > OK your way out of the file types dialog.
> >
> > Now when you double-click a spreadsheet, it will open it in a new
> > instance of Excel. "
>
>
>

This may help (or hurt).

If you open files by double clicking on them in windows explorer....

You could try:

Tools|options|General tab|Ignore other applications (check it)

Then double click on the workbook in windows explorer.

And be aware that turning this setting on sometimes gives errors with workbooks
that contain spaces in their path/name:

C:\my documents\excel\my book.xls

The error will look kind of like:
cannot find c:\my ..
then
cannot find documents\excel\my
then
cannot find book.xls

Or it may just open excel and not show you the file that you clicked on.

(I'd just start another instance and then file|open the workbook.)

3R''s wrote:
>
> The problem is that double-clicking a spreadsheet doesn't open a new instance
> of Excel, it opens it in the current one. Then when you click the close "x"
> in the upper right hand corner of the window, it closes ALL your workbooks,
> not just the current one. This is not consistent with the way Word works
> where opening a new Word document will open a whole new program window. Can I
> change a setting to make Excel behave like Word?
>
> I've tried this solution from [email protected] to no avail:
>
> "The answer involves changing the file association stuff in windows. Go
> to explorer, choose tools, then folder options. Click the File Types
> tab. Scroll down to the XLS extension. Click the Advanced button.
> Choose "open", then click the edit button.
>
> At the end of the "Application used" entry, you'll probably see: /e
> After this, add: "%1" (be sure to include the quotes.)
>
> Then uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox. Then click OK. (Windows re-checks
> it at some point for some reason, but it still works)
>
> OK your way out of the file types dialog.
>
> Now when you double-click a spreadsheet, it will open it in a new
> instance of Excel. "

--

Dave Peterson