With windows 7, I cannot find a permanent solution to this issue; Open Excel workbooks in different windows and not within one instance of Excel Modifying the registry as below resolves the issue temporally , until after a while (not sure if reboot) , the reg key reverts back , so Excel stops opening workbooks in multiple windows. [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Chart.8\shell\Open\command] String value name Default data "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE" /dde "%1" Anyone have a permanent solution to this. thanks

I recommend to ask in Office forum. You may obtain correct answer sooner: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/officeitpro Rgds Milos