How to open two Excel files in separate windows?

B

bastXXXette

Hello,

I can't figure out how to open two Excel files into *two separate
application windows*. I do not mean opening two workbooks within the
same app window. I know that I can switch between Excel workbooks by
using the Window pull-down to select one that's not active. I also
know that I can cascade or tile the workbooks within the Excel window,
so I can see more than one workbook at a time. But that doesn't help
me. What I want is to see two open applications on my desktop, each of
which says "Microsoft Excel" in the upper-left corner.

There are several reasons for this. First is that I'm switching among
several different applications that are open on my desktop, and cutting
& pasting data between them. So I have to be able to access files from
different apps, not just from Excel. Second is that when I'm looking at
one of the workbooks, I want the window to be large sized. But when I'm
looking at the other one, I only need to see a couple of rows at a time.
I'm also cutting text from another app and pasting it into those visible
rows in Excel. I need both of those apps (Excel and the other one) to be
visible on the screen. I'm continually resizing the Excel window,
depending on which of the workbooks I'm using.

Other applications don't work this way. For example, if I click on a PDF
file, it launches an instance of Acrobat. If I click on a second PDF file,
it launches another instance of Acrobat. I can have both open on the
screen, they can be moved independently of one another, and they can be
sized independently, all without having to block the entire desktop with
a single application window for Acrobat. (However, if I prefer to view
files in that way, that's an option.)

I've searched through the Excel help files, but can't find anything that
pertains to this. There is an item in the Window menu, "New Window", but
that just opens a second copy of the active file, *within* the Excel
window - not what I need.

What is the setting for "Open new Excel files in separate window", and
where is it??

Running Excel 2002 on Windows XP 2002 SP3. No ridicule, please - this
is at work and I don't control the budget. :)

Thank you!

J.
 
J

joeu2004

I can't figure out how to open two Excel files into *two
separate application windows*. I do not mean opening two
workbooks within the same app window.

Although you could modify the Property sheet for Excel, I have found
that unreliable and error-prone.

The simplest way is to double-click on the Excel program icon, not the
file icon. If you do not have an Excel program icon on your desktop,
click on Run > Programs and click on Excel.

In Excel, click on File > Open and select the file that you want to
open.
 
B

bastXXXette

joeu2004 said:
The simplest way is to double-click on the Excel program icon, not the
file icon. If you do not have an Excel program icon on your desktop,
click on Run > Programs and click on Excel.
In Excel, click on File > Open and select the file that you want to
open.

Heh. Didn't even think of that. Sounds simple enough, thanks!

J.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
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This was driving me nuts as well and I never tried you're easy fix. It works! Thank you joeu2004!
 

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