How to auto start a new Excel image or window when opening files

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Robert in Phoenix - 28 May 2005 08:54 GMT

Is there a way to configure Excel to automatically open a new image or a new
window whenever additional files are opened when using explorer or shortcuts
to select the file to open? The default operation opens a single Excel
instance and any additional files are opened within the same window instance
and the windows can't be moved to different monitors. I am using multiple
monitors and want to place individual Excel instances or windows in different
monitors. Word creates seperate windows which can be moved to different
monitors by default. I could not locate an option for either starting a new
instance or opening a new window in the Excel tools options settings. I can
manually open multiple instances by starting another instance of Excel, then
select file, open and manually browse to the directory location, find the
file and select it. Windows XP Pro, Excel 2003 SP1 Thanks for any input...

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Dave Peterson - 28 May 2005 13:21 GMT

You could try:

Tools|options|General tab|Ignore other applications (check it)

And be aware that turning this setting off sometimes gives errors with workbooks
that contain spaces in their path/name:

C:\my documents\excel\my book.xls

The error will look kind of like:
cannot find c:\my ..
then
cannot find documents\excel\my
then
cannot find book.xls

==
It may be easier/safer/more reliable to start the second instance and then
File|open the workbook.

> Is there a way to configure Excel to automatically open a new image or a new
> window whenever additional files are opened when using explorer or shortcuts
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> select file, open and manually browse to the directory location, find the
> file and select it. Windows XP Pro, Excel 2003 SP1 Thanks for any input...

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Dave Peterson

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Robert in Phoenix - 28 May 2005 17:10 GMT

Looks like all the documents that I need to open have spaces in their names.
I tried removing spaces, and it does open a new instance of Excel for each
file selection; however, Excel would not open the selected file automatically.

> You could try:
>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> > select file, open and manually browse to the directory location, find the
> > file and select it. Windows XP Pro, Excel 2003 SP1 Thanks for any input...

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Dave Peterson - 28 May 2005 19:44 GMT

Did you move your test file (with no spaces) to a folder with no spaces?

> Looks like all the documents that I need to open have spaces in their names.
> I tried removing spaces, and it does open a new instance of Excel for each
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> >
> > Dave Peterson

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Robert in Phoenix - 29 May 2005 23:58 GMT

Dave,

Good point... I did not even think to check about the directory, but that
makes sense if Excel can't handle spaces in the file name.

I guess I'll continue to manually start Excel because the file shares that I
an accessing many of the files are not created by my, nor can I change the
format of the directory names..

Thanks for your ideas.

> Did you move your test file (with no spaces) to a folder with no spaces?
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
> > >
> > > Dave Peterson

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Dave Peterson - 30 May 2005 00:09 GMT

That's what I'd do if I had multiple monitors.

> Dave,
>
[quoted text clipped - 53 lines]
> >
> > Dave Peterson

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