Keep Excel from opening new instance

[widman]

I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
click on the file I have open.
HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
opening like that.

[Dave Peterson]

Sometimes one of these works:

Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)

--- or ---

Close Excel and
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /unregserver
then
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /regserver

The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
factory defaults.

widman wrote:
>
> I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
> have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
> would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
> tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
> cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
> click on the file I have open.
> HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
> opening like that.

--

Dave Peterson

[widman]

First one didn't work.
Doubt that the second one will, because these seem to be the factory
defaults. I've always had this problem, had it when I temporarily loaded it
on a borrowed computer while my hard drive was being replaced, and have it
again now that it is reinstalled on my new hard drive. I kept thinking the
updates would fix it, but they don't.


"Dave Peterson" wrote:

> Sometimes one of these works:
>
> Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)
>
> --- or ---
>
> Close Excel and
> Windows Start Button|Run
> excel /unregserver
> then
> Windows Start Button|Run
> excel /regserver
>
> The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
> factory defaults.
>
> widman wrote:
> >
> > I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
> > have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
> > would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
> > tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
> > cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
> > click on the file I have open.
> > HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
> > opening like that.
>
> --
>
> Dave Peterson
>

[Dave Peterson]

Won't take too long to find out if the second works.

widman wrote:
>
> First one didn't work.
> Doubt that the second one will, because these seem to be the factory
> defaults. I've always had this problem, had it when I temporarily loaded it
> on a borrowed computer while my hard drive was being replaced, and have it
> again now that it is reinstalled on my new hard drive. I kept thinking the
> updates would fix it, but they don't.
>
> "Dave Peterson" wrote:
>
> > Sometimes one of these works:
> >
> > Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)
> >
> > --- or ---
> >
> > Close Excel and
> > Windows Start Button|Run
> > excel /unregserver
> > then
> > Windows Start Button|Run
> > excel /regserver
> >
> > The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
> > factory defaults.
> >
> > widman wrote:
> > >
> > > I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
> > > have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
> > > would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
> > > tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
> > > cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
> > > click on the file I have open.
> > > HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
> > > opening like that.
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dave Peterson
> >

--

Dave Peterson

[widman]

does that reset anything else about excel? I am tired of putting the
toolbars back in usable condition after each install, user name or anything
else.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

> Won't take too long to find out if the second works.
>
> widman wrote:
> >
> > First one didn't work.
> > Doubt that the second one will, because these seem to be the factory
> > defaults. I've always had this problem, had it when I temporarily loaded it
> > on a borrowed computer while my hard drive was being replaced, and have it
> > again now that it is reinstalled on my new hard drive. I kept thinking the
> > updates would fix it, but they don't.
> >
> > "Dave Peterson" wrote:
> >
> > > Sometimes one of these works:
> > >
> > > Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)
> > >
> > > --- or ---
> > >
> > > Close Excel and
> > > Windows Start Button|Run
> > > excel /unregserver
> > > then
> > > Windows Start Button|Run
> > > excel /regserver
> > >
> > > The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
> > > factory defaults.
> > >
> > > widman wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
> > > > have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
> > > > would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
> > > > tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
> > > > cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
> > > > click on the file I have open.
> > > > HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
> > > > opening like that.
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Dave Peterson
> > >
>
> --
>
> Dave Peterson
>

[Dave Peterson]

I've done a few times and it's never affected my toolbars or my username or
anything else I can remember.

As a tip, search for *.xlb file--where excel stores custom changes to toolbars.
If you ever have to restore the toolbar, you can just plop the backup copy of
*.xlb into its real location. (Although, I don't think that excel wipe out that
toolbar on a simple re-install, either.)

widman wrote:
>
> does that reset anything else about excel? I am tired of putting the
> toolbars back in usable condition after each install, user name or anything
> else.
>
> "Dave Peterson" wrote:
>
> > Won't take too long to find out if the second works.
> >
> > widman wrote:
> > >
> > > First one didn't work.
> > > Doubt that the second one will, because these seem to be the factory
> > > defaults. I've always had this problem, had it when I temporarily loaded it
> > > on a borrowed computer while my hard drive was being replaced, and have it
> > > again now that it is reinstalled on my new hard drive. I kept thinking the
> > > updates would fix it, but they don't.
> > >
> > > "Dave Peterson" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Sometimes one of these works:
> > > >
> > > > Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)
> > > >
> > > > --- or ---
> > > >
> > > > Close Excel and
> > > > Windows Start Button|Run
> > > > excel /unregserver
> > > > then
> > > > Windows Start Button|Run
> > > > excel /regserver
> > > >
> > > > The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
> > > > factory defaults.
> > > >
> > > > widman wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I have Excel 202 and with a dozen or two open programs sometimes forget I
> > > > > have excel open and press the Excel icon on my taskbar. If it was Word it
> > > > > would open a new file for me to start writing, but Excel opens a new window,
> > > > > tells me it is in use and can open as read only. I have to tell it to
> > > > > cancel, at which time it continues to open. Then I have to close it and
> > > > > click on the file I have open.
> > > > > HOW can I either get Excel to behave like Word or get it to not even bother
> > > > > opening like that.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > Dave Peterson
> > > >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dave Peterson
> >

--

Dave Peterson