Open Excel in Two Windows (Microsoft Excel 2007 / Windows Vista)
When you open an Excel file in Windows Vista, it will only open 1 instance of Excel and force you to tile the windows in order to see both at the same time. I find this annoying especially when I want the Excel files to display on multiple monitors.
I looked around for some solutions and found the following:
- Open Excel two times from the start menu.
- Turn off DDE and modify shortcut (I couldn't get this to work on Windows Vista)
I didn't like using the start menu option as I like to use Windows Explorer to open my Excel files and I couldn't get the DDE option to work. So, I took a minute and developed my own fairly simple solution.
1. Put the following line of text in a bat file and save it at as c:\Program Files\runExcel.bat
start "Excel" "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e %1
2. Modify the shortcut for the .xls extension
Right click the excel file and select "Open With…" and then in the window that opens click "Browse…"
Then select the bat file you created in the first step by browsing to c:\program files and selecting runExcel.bat. Make sure that "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked in the "Open With" dialog.
Now anytime you double click on an Excel file it will always open it in a new window – the way I think it should be.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
how do you change the icon (i.e. not for all .bat files, but just for one called runExcel), so all the Excel files will have the Excel icon?
January 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Great Question! This was the next topic on my list to write an article about but you beat me to the punch. As far as I know there is no way to change the icon associated with Excel with this solution. Although, I did come up with a similar solution that will keep an icon associated with the Excel files. I updated the above post with a link to that article.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Hi Brett,
Your follow-up article link about fixing the icon issue is not going anywhere. Would you please email your comments.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Sam, Thanks for pointing out the invalid link. I have updated it.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I am running Office 2003 on Vista and have this issue. I did a work around by adding Excel to my "Send To" list. now I have the best of both worlds when I want to open two workbooks in one process I just double click, and when I want to open two workbooks in separate processes, I right click on the files and select send to, excel.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Thank you so much! This was the only one that actually worked for my Vista computer after searching on the internet for hours!!!
May 19th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Or you can edit the registry on Vista and Windows 7 and it does the exact same thing as changing the file association through XP. This will not cause any Icon problems or anything.
Delete the following lines in the registry:
HKCR\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec
HKCR\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec
and change the below like shown:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e “%1″
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e “%1″
May 19th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Thanks!! The bat file solution actually works with Vista, Well done!
May 25th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Thanks worked! Notes – My Excel program was in Program Files (x86)
if that is where yours is located you'll want to edit the bat file. Also, run word pad as administrator so you can save there. Otherwise Vista gets it knickers in a twist and says "no" when you go to save the bat file.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This simple and elegant solution is a lifesaver. I have used other options I found on the web (like playing with DDE settings and whatnot), and they worked, but every time a new Excel patch has come out it's all back to the same window again. This last one, for some reason I couldn't get the DDE fixes to make it work properly, and found your article while busy tearing my hair out. This should work going forward, regardless of patches. And if not, time to get OpenOffice!!
June 25th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Hey Britt
That Registry hack certainly makes my Vista PC open multiple excel windows it just doesn't open any spreadsheets inside them. If you have any more great registry hacks please keep them to yourself. Fortunately I saved each reg hive before modifying and was able to set it back to normal which fixed the problem.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Hey Brett,
Thanks for the information. I've been looking all over for a simple solution and this is the one that got the job done! I really appreciate it. Keep up the good work!
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:59 am
Thanks,
This really helped. I had to change the directory a bit, but after that it worked fine!
August 13th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Hi Brett,
I am experiencing the same issue that Mike Preece stated on June 25th.
I have Vista 64…I moved the bat file into the Program Files (x86) and adjusted the path.
When I try to open an excel file from Windows Explorer… The app opens but there is no spreadsheet inside?
Also noticed that it has taken away the xcel icon and shows a small white box.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hi Brett!
Thanks for your work on creating this useful little tool. The .bat file method definitely works around the issue of opening separate Excel documents in separate Excel instances, without having to use the 'ignore other applications that use DDE' [in Office 2007] (which causes the problem of opening a blank Excel instance when double clicking a file). However, there is one little quirk of this methodology which users should be aware of;
By opening the files in separate instances of Excel, you inhibit the ability to copy formulas from one spreadsheet to another. For example if you enter the formula =sum(A1:C10) into a blank cell which gives a hypothetical total of 30 (value of 1 in each cell), when you copy this cell and paste it into a sheet in a separate instance, you will only copy the formula total, and not the formula itself (i.e. 30, and not =sum(A1:C10)).
Not as annoying as not being able to open separate files in separate instances, but well worth mentioning if you plan to copy large numbers of complicated formulas from one spreadsheet to another.
/chuck
p.s. sorry for the verbose comment
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:28 am
To Mike Preece: You've obviously mucked something up, as it works like a dream. Any normal person would have renamed the entries rather than actually deleting straight off!
Thanks muchly Britt! Please don't keep hacks like that to yourself!
To Sam ott: Check that the %1 is in quotes "%1"
February 28th, 2010 at 4:34 am
Hi All,
I had the original method of changing the settings via the application associations working on Windows XP but have recently switched to Windows 7 where this no longer seems to be an option.
I have therefore been searching for a method to use on Windows 7 and have found a number of suggestions like this which have led me to the blank screen issue. Adding a few snippets from various site led me to creating the following .reg file which works perfectly:
To use it, copy the contents below and paste it into notepad. Save the file as:
Excel 2007 Dual Screen.reg (Make sure you select "All Files" from the file type drop down).
Exit Notepad and run the file, accepting the warnings and your good to go.
If you want to restore to the original, copy the contents below and paste it into notepad. Save the file as:
Excel 2007 Restore Settings.reg (Make sure you select "All Files" from the file type drop down).
Exit Notepad and run the file, accepting the warnings and your good to go.
September 5th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Great job! I would like to make you an offer and have you sign a contract for 1 million a year.
October 13th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
m(_ _)m Kudos to -> Gareth N
Awesome hack, my office productivity just increased by 10%.
Comparing excelsheets is a bliss now, so some much easier…
Microsoft should hire you for usability testing and enhancement… those developers sucked in that area.
October 14th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Thanks. Worked great!
May 19th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
If you have a dual monitor setup and wish to open 2 spreadsheets, simultaneously, one on each monitor, it’s not straightforward. Excel likes to open everything under one application window.
There’s 2 approaches for this:
Restore the application window, then manually resize it to occupy both monitors, but DO NOT maximize it as it will go back to one monitor only. Then open up the spreadsheets and put them side-by-side.
This is the cleaner approach. You can open one spreadsheet first, maximize it to one monitor, then go to the Start Menu and hold SHIFT while clicking the Excel shortcut. This will call a second instance of the application, and you can maximize it to the second monitor. Then manually open the file.
The first approach has a nice feature attached to it which is the possibility of scroll-locking between spreadsheets, so if you’re comparing/editing data in two similar spreadsheets, makes it a bit easier.
February 2nd, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for the post. I can't believe I didn't try the open from start window twice. Gotta love windows. I can't wait for the day software will get out of the way and let you do you work.