Prevent Multiple Instances?

[js0873]

I'm on Windows XP Pro and running Excel 2003. If I open Excel by an icon, it opens up what appears to be a separate instance of Excel every time. For example, the first start opens Book1 in a copy of Excel. If I do it again, it opens Books 2 in another copy of Excel, and you can't move or copy worksheets between the 2. This doesn't happen with Word. If I open Word twice the same way, Office recognizes that there's a running instance running and combines both new documents into the single instance. But back to Excel, if I open different Excel files from Windows Explorer, they actually do combine into a single instance. But If I open Excel via the start icon, I'm getting another instance every time, which I don't want.

Just to clarify, this really has nothing to do with "Windows in Taskbar". I simply want all copies of workbooks to be in just one copy of Excel, so that I can manipulate sheets across workbooks or at least see everything that's open by using the "Window" menu pulldown. How do I do this?

[shg]

Try Tools > Options > General, untick Ignore other applications.

But If I open Excel via the start icon, I'm getting another instance every time, ...

If you start Excel from the Start menu, you will indeed get a new instance every time. That's what you're telling it to do.