open Excel 2007 spreadsheets in different windows on Vista
Posted by: bruntech in Microsoft Office, tags: Microsoft Office, Microsoft VistaThis is for Windows Vista only! If you are using Windows XP, please see open Excel 2007 spreadsheets in different windows on XP
Before you try the fix please read this first : There are times that this will not work… (I had a user run into this)… When I tested this I open the files in C:\temp and it worked fine. However, i f there are spaces in the path to the file then when you click on the Excel file a blank document will open up.
Other applications require DDE to communicate with Excel. So unless you have to have the functionally of double clicking on an Excel files and opening each file in it’s own instance, I would recommend using the features in Vista and Excel.
For example: When you launch Excel, Vista saves a list of the most recent applications used. If you click on Start, for example Excel will be listed if you have opened it recently.
Otherwise, go to the Office 2007 folder and launch Excel. And while you are in the folder, right click on Excel and select send to Desktop (create shortcut) . Now you have a desktop shortcut.
Click on the Excel desktop shortcut twice . You now have two windows opened.
Click on the Office 2007 button on each Excel document and open your Excel spreadsheets. If you do double click on a Excel file again (on the desktop for example), the first Excel Window that you opened will be the instance of Excel that the file will open in.
I now people wanted an Vista solution, so check back once in awhile because I will continue to work on a clean workaround on Vista.. Or you can ignore what I just recommended and try the fix anyways… Remember, if it does not work, no big deal just uncheck the box that will be discussed below.
In my last post on opening multiple worksheets or spreadsheets, the fix for this issue was specific to Windows XP only. On Microsoft Vista, you can not directly manager file types. Vista has tools to allow you to associate applications by using "open with", which is accessed by right clicking on a file and choosing what application you want to open for a specific file type.
Also I would like to comment that I have read on other web sites,9 many of them in fact) that Microsoft Excel 2007 does not use DDE. This is 100% wrong! Microsoft Excel 2007 use DDE on Windows XP and Windows Vista. This can be seen by monitoring the registry when opening Excel document. You can see that the DDE server is being used by Excel. I had to mention this because one of my annoyances in the IT field is when people share information that is not correct.
Fortunately the fix on Vista is a lot easier than the fix XP. The reason being Excel 2007 is intended to be installed on Vista not XP. Yes, I know Excel 2007 can be installed on XP, ( I use Office 2007 on another computer running XP). In a minute you will see one reason why I am saying this.
Solution:
- Open Microsoft Excel 2007 as you normally would. (it does not matter if you open an existing doment or create a new document.
- In the far upper left hand side of Excel 2007, left of the Menu item "Home ", you will see an Office 2007 button . It looks like this.
- Left Click on the Office 2007 button, and click on "Excel O ption s", just left of the "Exit E xcel" button.
- In the left pain, select Advanced
- On the right pain scroll all the way down, almost to the bottom, to the group "General’ , right after When calculating this workbook and before Lotus compatibility
- In the General group there is an option, Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) , select this option
- Click on OK
- Close Excel 2007
Open your first Excel 2007 workbook. Excel opens as usual.
Now open your second workbook. You will see another Excel 2007 window open up. This allows you to move your windows around so you can see both Excel files at the same time.
Back to my comment earlier about Excel 2007 intended for Vista.
On Windows XP, if you do the steps above and select the option Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) , Dynamic Data Exchange, Windows XP ignores this and continues to use DDE for Excel 2007. In Windows Vista, by selecting the option, Excel 2007 and Vista "cooperate" and turns off DDE.
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We currently have a setup with 2 monitors so using both to compare or drag and drop was nice in 2003, placing a check in ignore DDE still has both worksheets opening in the same excel window :-(
Ya I have seen this as noted in the original posting, if there are spaces in the path than this will not work by unchecking DDE.
What about trying the other work around… Is that feasible? ( as mentioned above)
Launch Excel twice, from start then click on Programs and then Microsoft Office.
Do not launch Excel initially by clicking on an XLS file. After you have Excel opened twice, than double click on an XLS file.
The first instance of Excel will be where your excel file will open. Then in the other Excel instance you will have to click on open within Excel and open an Excel spreadsheet. In order for this to work, you will have to have DDE checked…..
I know this is a pain, but until I figure out a “hack” or workaround, this is the best I can offer for now.. Check back to see if I have posted a more reliable workaround ….
If I do as suggested I get an error message “Windows cannot fond ‘C:\…..xls’. Make sure you have typed the name correctly, and then try again.”
I can not open any excel sheets after attempting this fix. I get the same error message, “Windows cannot fond ‘C:\…..xls’. Make sure you have typed the name correctly, and then try again.”
Same problem here. It cannot find files anymore.
Does anyone have a solution for this issue?
Thanks in advance!