Microsoft Office 2010 Excel will not open two xls

Question

I am using Windows 7 and Windows 8 and I see the following behavior with Microsoft Office 2010.

Create two Excel files, say a.xls and b.xls

Open a.xls by double clicking it.

After the file is opened in Office 2010 Excel, modify this file and do not save.

Try opening b.xls. by double clicking on it.

b.xls never opens.

This behavior only happens on Windows for excel files on 2010.

It works fine with any other type of files (.doc, .docx, .ppt etc). It also works fine on Office 2011 and Office 2013.

Is there a workaround for this? Any patch etc?

Highly appreciate any insights.

Thanks!

Solution

This a minor Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Excel 2013 bug.

The second XLS file is waiting for the first XLSX file to exit out of cell editing. Once you hit enter and leave cell editing mode, the second XLSX file opens.

There is no fix as far as I know since it existed in Office 2010 Excel and continues to exist in Office 2013 Excel. There's another discussion about not being able to open a second Excel spreadsheet here as well. Same conclusion.

You just have to press Enter (to leave cell editing mode) before you open the second Excel spreadsheet.

Comments

[Wutnaut]

I could not recreate your issue. b.xls opened fine for me.

[Ramhound]

This also works. 2 workbooks are opened. If you want to Excel windows it requires launching Excel twice, dragging and dropping the file, into each window.

[Vink]

@Wutnaut Did you edit the first file without saving? And then open the second file?

[Wutnaut]

Yes Vink, I opened a.xls and added some random info into random cells, then opened b.xls.

[Vink]

Strange, I tried that on three different installations of Microsoft Office 2010 and found the same behavior. Which windows OS are you using?

[Vink]

We might be missing one small step here, Create two Excel files, say a.xls and b.xls Open a.xls by double clicking it. After the file is opened in Office 2010 Excel, modify a cell and do not press 'Enter' or unfocus from the cell. Do not save it or click anywhere on Excel application. Try opening b.xls. by double clicking on it. b.xls never opens. b.xls will open only when you unfocus from the edited cell.

[Sun]

I can duplicate your issue in Office 2013 as well.

[Raystafarian]

What? Excel can definitely have more than one instance.

[I say Reinstate Monica]

That's not true. Multiple instances of Excel 2010 can be opened on a computer and multiple Excel workbooks can be opened directly from Windows Explorer.

[Keyur Shah]

It can be open multiple instances, sometimes it happens. I have faced same situation. in that case all you need to do is open another excel manually. We have had that situation and it solved problem.

[Sun]

@KeyurShah may be referring to "ignore DDE" option in Advanced. If you "uncheck" the option, Excel's behavior launches.