I want to open 2 excel files in separate windows to view them side by side... but each time I try, it opens them in the same window

Anonymous
2009-11-14T01:05:58+00:00

I want to open 2 excel files in separate windows to view them side by side... but each time I try, it opens them in the same window.  is there a way around this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-03-15T22:03:50+00:00

I use Windows 7 and this is what works for me (just figured it out):

1.  Open your first Excel file and place it on the screen you want

2.  Open a new Excel file from the Excel icon

3.  The new file will open on top of the one you have already opened.  Drag it to the other screen

4.  Drag the icon for the second Excel file INTO the new (blank) Excel document

Voila!  Two separate screens.

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Anonymous
2010-04-30T19:36:49+00:00

ok, just because i don't have the petiance to wait for you to answer to my first question about which excel version you'r using i'll just give my solution for all the people who have w7 and office 2007:

the solution involves making little changes in the registry so i recommend making back up for just in case:

strart - run - regedit:

Left column

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}

Double Click on (Default) and write - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name 

  • for example 2 (commend2).

Left column

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/ddeexec:

Right Click on the folder ddeexec and choose "rename" and add something to the name 

  • for example 2 (ddeexec2)

Left column

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}

Double Click on (Default) and write -****"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name 

  • for example 2 (commend2).

no restart needed

Have Fun

hope i helped

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-04-13T11:52:43+00:00

    please give FULL answer! you are missing one important step.

    your answer did NOT work for me and will NOT work unless you add the following final step:

    Left column

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/ddeexec:

    Right Click on the folder ddeexec and choose "rename" and add something to the name  - for example 2 (ddeexec2)

    AFTER doing this, it will work.

    Notes:

    Please people be careful, when you add the "%1", don't forget to include these " ", so type "%1", not %1, and also don't forget to add a space after /e

    This should work. It worked for me!

    I am using Windows 7 , and Microsoft Office 2007

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-03-24T00:35:57+00:00

    This is kind of a big bug in Windows 7/Office 2010.

    More importantly, it exposed another bug.

    While messing around with multiple instances of Excel and multiple "windows" as Excel defines them, I accidentally didn't save my changes to one of the open files.  The backup did not contain a graph I had made since last saving and also had not sorted a set of data as I had done since last saving.  I had to redo all this work.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-03-17T20:15:28+00:00

    In Excel 2007 , Click the Office button ->Excel Options -> Advanced .

    Under General , check ‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange’ .

     

    Close Excel and open the two up. Both will open in two instances of Excel. Now remember, that DDE linking to other documents has been disabled, so if you use DDE, then you'll have to use theCompare Side By Side feature.

    Same with Excel 2003.

    In Excel 2003 , go to Tools -> Options ->General tab.

    Make sure the option, ‘Ignore other applications ’ is checked. Now all the Excel files will be opened as separate instance

    Same caveats with DDE and you can use the Compare Side By Side feature.

     

    PEACE

    Bud

    Not

    This worked for me and I'm using Excel 2007. Much better than editing the registry. I guess you are not employed by Microsoft.

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