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

Difficulty: 0

Skills Required: Using Mouse

Time to completion: 1 Second

Versions used to test this: Windows 7, Excel 2007

Rightclick on the tab in the Task Bar and click on "Microsoft Office Excel 2007" to open a new workspace.

Afterwards, simply drop in a file per Drag and Drop or use the "Data > Open"-Command to open files in the new Workspace.

This way you don't need to edit your Registry or go the long way vie Start > Programs > etc. . I find that useful the few times I need it as it is quick, simple and does no permanent changes to your system.

The method suggested by Bosparan is great, and it's the way I always work in Excel. Want to open a second, third, or more Excel windows?  No problem. Simply locate the Excel icon on your Taskbar, right-click, and then select/click Microsoft Excel 20xx.

Note: After right-clicking the Excel icon on your task bar, do not click on the name of any existing or previously opened spreadsheet you see listed. Doing so will simply open that spreadsheet into the existing Excel window. To open an additional, new window, you must click the program name.

In each Excel window, you can open one or more workbooks/spreadsheets. Drag and drop works fine, as suggested by Bosparan. Personally, I prefer to simply click File | Recent, or else File | Open and then browse to the desired file. And, of course, you can click File | New to create a new book/sheet in a particular window.

If you want your file to reside in a specific Excel window, then you have to make that clear to the Excel program. You do this by either dragging a file into that window, or else by opening the file through that window's File tab.

If you open an existing workbook/spreadsheet using any other method, then Excel will open the in its default window (generally the first Excel window you opened). This applies to any file you might open through the Start Menu (pinned files, etc.), My Computer / Explorer, the Excel icon on the Taskbar icon, or simply double-clicking a file on your Desktop. All those approaches will open the file in the default window.

Thanks for nice guide! It works correctly now. Actually, I never thought that it can easy like that. Great! I'm working for Tim Viec projects. So, it is really useful..

Best regards,

Tuyen Dung

Hello,

         I tried what you said with Excel 2010 and it opened the same file twice on the same windows.  on different window but the same application windows.  I could not put the files side to side to do comparison.  I needed to open two different files to put side to side to compare them.