When ever i open the excel files it opens as different windows of the same instance . Is there any way to open in multiple instances of excel ...  I saw some answes in forums which says about about unchecking 'Ignore other application that use DDE' .. once i set that the excel file doesnot open again giving an error "there was a problem sending the command" ....

Could some one help me on this .. this is pretty urgent for me ...  i am using this in my vb.net project with process.start(file)  ... i dont think i want to create an excel application and open the file in the code as i may not be able to release the com objects properly in my fuinctionality .... 

Hi Jacobj.n86,

I'd control this by starting a fresh Excel instance rather than having Windows control this. You should be able to control the release of the objects

Try this one:

1. To begin, we go to the registry. Click START, and in the RUN command line type REGEDIT and hit ENTER or click OK. This will start the registry editor.

2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\Shell\Open\Command

3. Double click on the (Default) instance over to the right. Right now this probably says something like:

If you have Office 2007 installed:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /dde

Or, if you have Office 2010 installed

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE /dde

Change this value to:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e "%1"

for Office 2007 and for Office 2010 change it to:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE /e "%1"

4. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\Shell\Open\Command

Again, double click the (Default) entry to the right and change

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /dde

to

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e "%1"

When you exit the registry this should be all you need to do. Each time you double click on your Excel shortcut or type excel.exe in the command line a new instance of Excel is launched with the default spreadsheet.

Quote from: http://blogs.technet.com/b/the_microsoft_excel_support_team_blog/archive/2011/09/06/opening-excel-in-multiple-instances.aspx

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the suggestion was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assis

Hi Max,

Hope you are doing Well..!!!

Whats the purpose of changing the string value of "\dde" to "\e"

How does it affect the Excel application and other application who wants to communicate with Excel.

Coz after changing that reg , til now i am not getting that error, But i m a bit keen to the above.

Best Wishes.

--Shibli

I am also having this problem, we have windows 8.1 with Office 2013.

I have updated the Registry keys HKEY_CLasses_Root\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command

Default: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /dde"

to

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" //e %1"

and

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /dde"

to

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e %1"

I have done each separately and together and the error persists.

This was working and I think that it has been introduced by a recent update to office, question is which one?

I am also having this problem, we have windows 8.1 with Office 2013.

I have updated the Registry keys HKEY_CLasses_Root\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command

Default: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /dde"

to

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" //e %1"

and

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /dde"

to

@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e %1"

I have done each separately and together and the error persists.

This was working and I think that it has been introduced by a recent update to office, question is which one?

See if you can find a value named "command' with the value data like "yh1BV5!!!!!!!!!MKKSkEXCELFiles>lVWA(TVkMAIS5Dh]3nVO /dde", if so, try also change "/dde" to "/e %1" instead.

Hi Max,

Hope you are doing Well..!!!

Whats the purpose of changing the string value of "\dde" to "\e"

How does it affect the Excel application and other application who wants to communicate with Excel.

Coz after changing that reg , til now i am not getting that error, But i m a bit keen to the above.

Best Wishes.

--Shibli

Sorry Shibli, I'm also lack of information of that. All I know is that the "/dde" is used to suppress the other popup windows when starting Excel.

Hi Max,

Yes I did find that and did those changes, the error still occurs but the document does open.

as this is a new SOE environment I can't release it like this.

Hi Max,

Yes I did find that and did those changes, the error still occurs but the document does open.

as this is a new SOE environment I can't release it like this.

Hi again,

Can you try to backup this value, and delete it, see if this will help?

I have deleted the key "command" this did not work

So I also changed the (Default) key to /e %1 and again the error persists.

I am doing this on both Excel.Sheet.8 and Excel.Sheet.12

I have a feeling this is after an office update but I am not sure which one, I am rebuilding with updates disabled and will check back.

My problem was on launch from any folder or the desktop by activating an xls file version 2003.  The problem started suddenly as everything was working fine before as I recall.

My testing showed no change with the Excel Toolbar->Tools->->General-> "Ignore..." checkbox on or off, the usual first reponse to the problem.

I checked my command line and that was good.  If the command line was already good and it had been working before, my first guess was the registery was ok.

But, the other symptom was AUC was also poping up like it was not an app I modified.

I had switched to compatibility mode to stop some kind of annoyance.  When I turned that off the AUC popup and the warning message popup went away with Win7 pro 64.

Now, I'll see if accessing *.xls file problems go away...

I just resolved the same issue - but with one update: My path was enclosed in " " characters - after I removed those, all work well.

Thanks!