How to open two excel files in two excel windows using multiple monitors in Windows 7.
Currently it opens multiple files on top of each other on the same one monitor.


I found this article in a blog it says

"The snap feature that you are looking for will not work unless you open two instances of Excel. This is because Excel Unlike Word is not a True SDI Application. Microsoft is aware of the Issue however there is no resolution to the problem but the workaround"

• Moved by David WoltersModerator Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:03 PM moving to a more appropriate forum (From:Windows 7 Installation, Setup, and Deployment)

Don't know if i get you're question right. But i'll give it a shot.

I assume you defined the two monitors as an extended desktop. You can start excel for the first time and open a sheet and move the window to the first screen. Next you start another instance of excel open the worksheet and move it to the right sheet (you can only move a sheet to another monitor when it's size is not on "full screen".

The alternative way is open two excel sheets in one excel instance. Next you choose the tab "View" and click the "all window" option, then you can select that all the open windows should appear next to eachother. When you make your Excel instance a big as you're desktop (across two screens) you can see both of the excel sheets in one instance.

Works on office 2007, haven't tried in on 2003 but i assume it is possible.

Goodluck !

• Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 5:57 AM
• Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

I just did a test on my multiple screens, it worked. To do this, simply open Excel by double clicking the icon on your desktop and open the first Excel file you want to use. Minimize this window and move it to the right screen. Then go back to the desktop, double click the Excel icon once more, another separate Excel window will open. Open the second Excel file from within the separate window and move it to the left screen. You can open as many files and separate windows as you need using this method.

If you do not have an Excel shortcut on your desktop but would like one, find Excel in the Programs list. Right click it, point to Send To and then click Desktop. A shortcut will be placed on the desktop.

Excel 2007 provides a simple solution for users who want to open all Excel files in separate windows. To access this setting, open Microsoft Excel. Click the Office Button and then click Excel Options, which is down at the bottom right side of the menu. Select Advanced, which is on the left, and then scroll down to Display. Select the Show All Windows in Taskbar checkbox and then click OK.

Best Regards
Dale

• Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 6:01 AM
• Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

Hi,

 

Thanks this worked, but I launched the second Excel instance from my Start Menu, didn't need a desktop shortcut.

 

• Proposed as answer by Terence_H14 Thursday, April 01, 2010 12:15 PM

To Dale:

Your comment is *entirely* NOT what the user wants to know (nor I).

The question could not have been simpler: How does a user open two excel documents.

Your solution is show different windows in the taskbar???

To Pieter:

The whole problem is how to open TWO DIFFERENT excel documents individually.  Did you even try this before posting -- it's not possible.  Your solution is to do just do it???

All the other responses here are useless as well.

I can never understand in forums when users don't understand how to answer a question, but then respond with a solution for a different question.

We want to know HOW TO OPEN TWO SEPARATE EXCEL DOCS.  If you don't know how to do it, simply don't respond, and that saves tonnes of users from fiddling around trying to read all these comments from people who decided to comment, but NOT answer the question.

 

• Proposed as answer by Pr Dh Friday, January 21, 2011 1:32 PM
• Unproposed as answer by David WoltersModerator Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:00 PM
• Proposed as answer by reoroman Sunday, January 06, 2013 7:42 AM

Reduced everthing I read to these 2 short and easy to remember methods:

• SHIFT + Left Click on the Excel shortcut will to open another instance of excel which you can then move to another monitor. 

 OR

• RIGHT click on the Excel icon pinned to taskbar and LEFT click Microsoft Excel 2010 will also open another instance.

You still have to then open the spreadsheet you want but its a simple solution.   Works in Office 2010 with Windoes 7 64bit. 

 

 

• Proposed as answer by mstewar78 Wednesday, June 08, 2011 4:42 PM

The best thing that's worked for me is to use the "Send To" menu to open new instances of Excel for my dual-monitor Excel use.  With this technique, you right-click on an excel spreadsheet file, hover on "Sent To" in the context menu, and select "Excel" and it opens in a new window. Works with Excel 2007/2010 in W7.

To make Excel be an option in the "Send To" context menu, it's explained in this blog:

http://fielddata.blogspot.com/2011/07/opening-excel-20072010-in-new-windows.html

The only thing that doesn't work for me is when I'm opening Excel attachments from emails since the "Send To" option isn't available from my email program.

Colin

• Proposed as answer by Michael A. Repucci Wednesday, December 19, 2012 5:59 PM

Hi Gang,

I know this is an older stream, but I have the exact same problem, but in PowerPoint.

The solutions suggested here DO work for me in Excel, but not with PowerPoint.

Anyone have a solution to the same issue?

(i.e. - opening two .ppt presentations into two separate PowerPoint windows on two different monitors, in one machine?)

Thanks!

.James.

• Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 09, 2012 5:13 PM
• Unproposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 09, 2012 5:13 PM
• Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 09, 2012 5:16 PM

If you are working almost the entire day in front of your computer at your office with lots of Excel Sheets and Word, then probably you might be working with a dual monitor or may be even more than that. Studies have shown that having an additional monitor increases the productivity by 20 to 30 percent (Source: NY Times)

But some applications like MS Office Excel, even though you open multiple files, they are all from the same instance of the application. So if you want to compare two Excel files, then you may not be able to have it in two separate monitors as the files are loaded using the same instance of Excel. If you move one Excel file to the other window, the other Excel files are also moved to the other window.

So how to have two separate Excel files or other application side by side in dual monitors?

Option A:

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 and you can move the Excel files individually across the monitors.

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

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

or

As this method forces each Excel file as a separate instance, the memory consumption will be more. If you dont want too many memory consumption then you can open only two instances (see Option B) and manage wisely to view in both the monitors.

Note: If you are having issues like Excel opens without displaying a workbook, then you may have to uncheck this option. (See Microsoft Help for more details on this). You can use option B in this case. I have this option checked and I have not faced any issue yet.

Option B:

They key here is, the application has to be loaded as separate instances. Lets say you have opened an Excel file in Monitor 1 and you want to open the next excel file in Monitor 2. You can usually open another instance of Excel by browsing through the Start Menu -> Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Excel. Make sure this newly opened Excel file is the last Excel file you had viewed and then double click on the Excel file that you wanted to open. This will force the Excel to open in the second instance of Excel. Now you can move these two excel files separately across windows or monitors.

This may be little cumbersome way to open new instances of Excel every time. The easy solution would be to keep these links in the quick links near the Start button. So, every time you want to open a new instance of the application, you can just use those quick links.

hope work thanks

http://www.lytebyte.com/2008/05/13/how-to-open-two-excel-files-side-by-side-in-separate-monitors/

• Proposed as answer by winz zh Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:22 AM
• Edited by winz zh Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:23 AM

Running Multiple Instances of Excel 2003

Be careful in changing the settings, could cause problems.

One thing you can check. I don't know any option in excel to for to open (or not open) another instance when you double click the file. However, you can do it by direct configuration in windows.

 

Usually the Open of an excel document is done via DDE and that's why it opens the file in the same instance. You can change it by not using DDE to open the file.

 

In the windows explorer, in Tools - Folder Options - File types, select the  XLS extension, Click Advanced and select OPEN then click the edit button.

 

In my case it has the "Use DDE" box checked (and below the DDE message Open "%1").

 

Uncheck "Use DDE"

 

Now you have to include the parameter in the command line.

The command line is something like:

 

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

 

Now, each time we double click a file excel launches a new instance.

 

 

Pasted from <http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280472>

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Proposed as answer by gcallantii Monday, August 12, 2013 4:32 PM

Sorry I've tried to propose an answer but I guess I don't fully understand how this posting works. So, I'm trying as a reply to your original.  You can do the same thing with PowerPoint that Scotslad007 suggested above for Excel.  I tried it and it worked great.

Shift + Left click on the PowerPoint shortcut or

right click on PwerPoint icon pinned to taskbar and left click on MS PowerPoint 2010

• Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 09, 2012 5:21 PM
• Edited by AnneEK Wednesday, May 09, 2012 5:22 PM

Follow these steps:

Start -> type "run" into the "Search Programs and files" and hit Enter -> type regedit and hit Enter:

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

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}: (be sure to include the quotation marks when typing)

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. You can do this for .CSV files as well. Have Fun, and please share this answer with others

• Proposed as answer by Sir C Mac Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:34 PM

Nice! This worked great for me- great detail with the directions, this showed me exactly how to get there, and exactly how to edit the command parameter. Note: This also worked for me with .xlsx, and with .xlsm (macro-enabled) I would assume that if you used another type of extensions (i.e. .xlsb for binary, then you could follow the same steps and you could also open multiple instances, but I only use .xls, xlsx, and xlsm which I would assume the majority of people use). 

I am using XP (with Office 2010) at work, and that is mainly what I needed to open multiple instances up for, I don't know if it works on Windows 7, but I would assume that if you are using at least office 2010, it should work the same way. I can try it at home, and let you know if this method works on Win 7.

Thanks again! 

• Proposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM
• Unproposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM
• Proposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM

Ok, I got frustrated when trying to find a simple solution to this problem.  My bookkeeper wanted to open two excel spreadsheets, each in a different window on a different monitor.  Excel would not allow this to happen.  By default, Excel would open the new child windows inside the parent window. 

This is a workaround and is not a seamless automated transition from default.

My solution was to go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14 (for Office 2010) and find the EXCEL.EXE file.  Right click EXCEL.EXE and Send to --> Desktop (Create Shortcut).  Open Excel from the shortcut and drag it to the second monitor.  Open Excel again from the shortcut and leave it on the first monitor.  Drag the first Excel file that you want to open into the first Excel window and drag the second Excel file that you want to open into the second Excel window.  Now you have two Excel files open in two Excel windows and on two monitors.  I'm sorry that my instructions are not more clear or easier to understand, but I'm short on time and really wanted to share my find.  If I have repeated what somebody else posted as a fix, I apologize.  I quit reading through posts at the time of frustration.  However, my solution worked and my bookkeeper squeeled with delight.  Hope this helps.

• Edited by KC117MX Saturday, April 05, 2014 9:12 PM

@Scotslad007: You are my HERO !!!

Also from taskbar click middle mouse button works same as SHIFT + click on shortcut.

• Edited by Betlista Tuesday, July 01, 2014 8:52 AM reply not visible well

Thank you, Sir C Mac - Works a treat!

Just a typo in both 'Left column:' lines. Should be command not commend

Cheers

Max

• Edited by Max_007 Thursday, July 31, 2014 6:51 AM

Dear friend the simplest answer:

OPEN an Excel File you want to work on

Then Right Click the Excel icon that opened in your task bar if it is already pinned to the taskbar.

Select Microsoft Excel "2010" year could be different on your office.

You have two excel files now in seperated windows. Just drag it to your other screen.

And open the second file from the Excels menu File Open

If it helps dont read the rest of this post.

Quote from helpful Dale which is already done in your default settings.

"Excel 2007 provides a simple solution for users who want to open all Excel files in separate windows. To access this setting, open Microsoft Excel. Click the Office Button and then click Excel Options, which is down at the bottom right side of the menu. Select Advanced, which is on the left, and then scroll down to Display. Select the Show All Windows in Taskbar checkbox and then click OK."

Bros before worksheets 

Have a Nice Day :)

• Edited by pozitrone Tuesday, September 30, 2014 9:55 AM

http://blog.lavablast.com/post/2012/06/05/Microsoft-Excel-on-Multi-Monitor-Machines.aspx

This was the best solution I've found.  Works great.

• Proposed as answer by jharold12 Friday, February 06, 2015 12:00 AM

your a champ - this works perfect!!

You should be able to do this in one of two ways. Go to your desktop or your start menu and open two separate blank Excel documents using your Excel icon. Then move them so that each screen has a document. Then go to file or the home button at the top of the document and choose open to find the one you want or select it from the recent documents list and it will open on each one.

The other way is if you have a document saved on your desktop that you were working on, open that and move it to the desired screen you like. Then either on your desktop or start menu open a blank Excel document using your Excel Icon. Then go to file or the home button at the top of the document and choose open to find the one you want or select it from the recent documents list and  it will open.

Hopefully that helps. If I understood your question correctly I was searching online for the same thing.