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We have updated 6 machines to Windows 10 over the weekend and one of them has an issue that I hoped would go away with the upgrade but it has not. And of course it's the boss's computer.

When he opens a single excel (2013) spreadsheet it shows up on the taskbar. When he opens a second one, however, the second will replace the 1st on the taskbar with no way of getting to the first even with Alt + Tab. This does not happen with the third, forth or even the twentieth though.

I have reset the taskbar options as I have found suggested on other sites, with no satisfaction. I have reinstalled office and looked for and removed template sheets along with verifying that every setting in Excel->Option and under Windows 10 Settings is the same as every other computer in the office.

Has anyone else seen this? Is there a suggested fix that I have not tried?

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  • is that first file still open after opening the second one? (e.g. does it appear for CTRL+TAB)
    – Máté Juhász
    Aug 4, 2015 at 10:40
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    Are they just different workbooks within the same application instance? Can you find them within excel?
    – Raystafarian
    Aug 4, 2015 at 11:41
  • Could you temporarily switch off task grouping in taskbar options? This might help you have more clear view of individual tasks.
    – miroxlav
    Aug 4, 2015 at 12:16
  • Máté, Yes it is still open and if I close the last sheet showing on the Taskbar it will show again. Raystafarian, Each worksheet is unique and all can be found in Excel when you start minimizing them or moving them around. miroxlav, I did set "never combine" and it still happens.
    – BigMikeL
    Aug 4, 2015 at 13:48
  • Try menu option Windows to view all open workbooks. But they turned the menus into icons (images post Office '03 or even '07), the shortchut Alt+W, should still work. Or best fix: Install Windows 7! Just Kidding, no offense I hope. My current PC was an 8.1 -- I gave it two months before I bought a copy of Win7.
    – ejbytes
    Jan 5, 2016 at 6:07

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Sounds like you may have "Always combine, hide labels" selected, it's the default, in the task bar options. I really don't like this either.

Solution:

Right click start button, lower left with the windows icon. Select Properties. Select Tab, Taskbar. Taskbar buttons: "Never Combine". Click Okay to complete.

Note: Otherwise to see a second Excel application that is open simultaneously, you'd have to click-and-hold the Excel task in the Taskbar and a popup menu with all Excel files open will scroll up in a list. I don't like that setting much so I always set "Never Combine" so that I can see each file in the Taskbar, similar apps or not. Alt-Tab won't perform your desired behavior if the tasks are combined in the Taskbar.

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