Book1 is not automatically closing

[zipdog]

I recently tried a couple of solutions I found on these boards to
ensure that the Task Pane stayed visible on startup. I had already
tried setting it in Tools|Options, but since I have both a Personal.xls
and a Book.xlt, I tried the registry dword approach. It worked on the
Task Pane, but then the blank Book1 did not automatically close when I
opened another file. So I deleted the dword, and went with an
Workbook_Open macro. Same thing. I even unregistered and
re-registered Excel, as suggested in another post. Nothing.

It's not that big a thing, but it's weird and it bugs me. I definitely
won't give up my Personal.xls or my custom template (book.xlt), but
there must be some way to get Task Pane and Book1 to behave properly.

OK, geniuses, any ideas?

 

[David McRitchie]

Switch to your personal.xls workbook if it is not hidden,
then Windows (excel menu), Hide

That would leave book1 as the visible file,
close it, then close Excel.

You should also make sure that your personal.xls workbook
is the only thing of interest in your XLSTART directory,
The XLSTART directory is in the same directory as the
excel.exe that you are running.

Also make sure that in Tools, Options, General (tab)
that your alternate startup location is empty:
At startup, start all files in: ________________
as such files would be the same as being in XLSTART.
It is mainly of use for people on networks, and may be
setup incorrectly even for such users.

 

[zipdog]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. Personal was already
hidden, but I closed Book1, then Excel. No fix. Alternate startup
location is empty.

The one thing that is different is that my default templates Book.xlt
and Sheet.xlt are in XLSTART. Where else would I put them? I have a
number of default settings that I like to have set on any new workbook
or sheet. Is there another way to accomplish this without creating
these two templates?

 

[Gord Dibben]

Leave BOOK.xlt and SHEET.xlt in the XLSTART folder.

They will not load until asked for.

There are usually at least two XLSTART folders.

The default for Personal.xls, Book.xlt and Sheet.xlt is

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

Anything else in this folder should be removed.

The other XLSTART folder is at

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\XLSTART

Excel doesn't seem to use that folder at all as far as I can see.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP