I have noticed that when I have multiple workbooks open with MS Excel and I close one, excel will attempt to close them all. This is extremely frustrating and has resulted in me losing work on many occasions.

Is there any way that I can stop Excel doing this so that it functions similar to MS Word?

I am using Excel 2003 SP3.

edit: i am aware that i can use the smaller 'x' button, however I was looking for a way to change current functionality of the main 'X'

Cheers!

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I agree, it is annoying. Best I've found is to treat the workbooks as "tabs", and use Ctrl + W to close only one.

Or click the x close button, not on the very top but the lower one for the workbook.

alt text

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I am aware that I can do this, it just takes some getting used to - I'm a big fan of consistency :( – JT.WK Dec 9 '09 at 1:57
Haha, a race to the finish :) – Jared Harley Dec 9 '09 at 1:57
Jared- just seconds in it, as so often! – outsideblasts Dec 9 '09 at 2:09
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JT- I agree about consistency, might it help to imagine it as being in the same "family" as a browser? – outsideblasts Dec 9 '09 at 2:10
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Excel has what is known as an MDI (multiple document interface) window, which means that all of your open spreadsheets are in a single, main Excel window.

When you're exiting a spreadsheet, are you clicking the large close X button at the top of the window, or the smaller X close just below it? The one on top is the Excel close, and the one below is the spreadsheet close.

Excel close buttons

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i am clicking on the large one, ie the main window. It is interesting how it behaves "normally" when the workbooks have never been saved. – JT.WK Dec 9 '09 at 1:54
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One alternative is to always open a new instance of Excel for each workbook you open. That way, the Excel MDI, as Jared called it, will only handle that one workbook. When you close it, you'll still have the others on your task bar.

To do this, first open Excel from your usual shortcut for the app, and then open a workbook from inside Excel. If you open a workbook on its own, it will always in the most-recently touched instance of Excel that's already open.

The downside to this is having to remember to always do this, and also then you won't have the option to close them all at once when you do want to do that.

Good luck. :)

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