Excel 2013 Starting With Two Windows?

Anonymous
2013-03-03T19:48:44+00:00

Upon installation of Office 2013 yesterday, I have found in a day that Excel starts with Two Windows, i.e. one is the application with no Book, while the other offering to select from a collection of templates, from which if I select Blank Workbook, the blank one window remains to be opened, while the other operating one opens with a default template instead of the Book.xltx & Sheet.xltx placed in XLStart folder of Office15? Even upon exiting I need to close both the windows separately, in other words using Alt+F4 twice.

Any idea, what might be causing the trouble?

Thanx in advance.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2013-03-04T12:13:14+00:00

Hello Faraz,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community. We are glad to assist you with your concern.

As per the description, looks like the Excel application starts in two windows.

To resolve the issue, let us open Excel in application safe and check how they work.

To do that, press the ‘Windows + R’ key on the keyboard.

In the Run open box type in ‘Excel /safe’ and hit ok.

Note: There is a space between Excel and /.

If application safe mode works, try disabling the add-ins associated with Excel applications and check.

To do that, do the following:

  1. Open the application. Click on File and then click on options.
  2. In the Options Window click on Add-ins.
  3. Select Com Add-ins in the Manage list in the Add-ins section and click Go. Now uncheck the all the add-ins and click Ok.

You may also refer to the section Additional troubleshooting in the following article and check if it helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/280504

If you still have questions, you can always reply and I’ll be happy to assist you.

Thank you

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Anonymous
2013-07-18T16:53:50+00:00

Here's what finally appears to have worked for me. I suspected that it had something to do with the PERSONAL.XLSB workbook so after closing a regular workbook and getting the blank gray window I went to View>Window and found that Unhide was the only option so I clicked that and then Hide and saved the change and now everything closes as it should.

Bloody annoying that no one in MS support has been any help on this.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-04T22:44:09+00:00

    I have tried each and every solution provided, for several years now. Including this one.

    (By the way, I have no XLStart directory under Program Files(x86). My path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\XLSTART)

    Not to get off track, but the only unique symptom I find with this "Excel Starting with Dual Windows" problem deals with Windows Explorer. When the preview pane is turned on and you select an Excel .xlsx file. An instance of Excel opens prior to being able to preview the file. Of course the instance does not open if an .xlsm file is the only Excel file selected.

    I have never seen this symptom occur with any other Office product. Only Excel 2013.

    Thanks for your input. I hope the above symptom may aid in our search for a fix.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-04T21:56:11+00:00

    The problem occurs with any Excel file

    I've tried clearing the folders -- that doesn't fix it

    I've never had that trouble with Word

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-04T15:38:12+00:00

    Hi,

    Thank you for posting in Microsoft Office Community.

    Regarding Excel issue, I would like to know if the issue occurs with all the Excel files.

    Try to open the files within the Excel application and check how it works.

    Also let us clear the Excel startup folders then check if that resolves the issue:

    C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 15\root\Office 15\XLStart

    C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

    Note: Take a backup of files before deleting the files.

    For Word documents opened in read-only mode, does the issue occurs with all the documents saved on the computer or with the newly creating document?

    Ensure you have unchecked the option 'Read-only recommended' from File> Save as> Tools> General Options and verify the status.

    Also turn off the protected view in Word then try to open these files and check how it works.

    To do so, open Word > File > Options > Trust Center > Trust center settings > Protected view >under protected view uncheck all the options and check what happens.

    Let us know the results to assist you further.

    Thank you.

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