32

I have to do work between two spreadsheets and I need to view them side by side. I can't just open the workbooks in separate instances because I need to make use of features like paste formatting, and all of that goes away when the workbooks aren't in the same instance.

Is there anything I can do to get two windows open, each with a separate workbook, each maximized on a different monitor, and still have access to the advanced cut/paste features?

8
  • I found this (open excel files as new window) as a duplicate, but I tried the accepted answer from that problem and it didn't work for me, so I'm going to leave this open for the time being.
    – nhinkle
    Apr 22, 2011 at 3:21
  • It's a different question, he doesn't want them to be in the same instance, I do. Big difference. I'm surprised that question doesn't have a solution like this: experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/…
    – Alain
    Apr 22, 2011 at 3:47
  • Copy/cut/paste works across instances in Excel 2007; and then you can cut -> paste special in the second instance to get all of the subset/transpose/etc. features. I do that all the time. What specifically doesn't work for you?
    – Ken Paul
    Apr 26, 2011 at 22:44
  • 3
    When you copy across instances, you lose the formulae.
    – Alain
    Apr 26, 2011 at 22:58
  • 4
    Note: as of Excel 2013 Preview, this is fixed! Finally, in 2012, we can have multiple Excel windows at once ON MULTIPLE DISPLAYS!
    – nhinkle
    Nov 19, 2012 at 6:38

6 Answers 6

21

I'm assuming you're extending your desktop onto both monitors?

Once you've done that, make sure Excel is NOT maximized and manually resize the Excel program window using the corner resizing anchors to cover both screens.

Then you can open both spreadsheets and go to View>>View Side by Side.

On Mac: >> Window >> Arrange All >> arrange vertically.

4
  • 14
    I was really hoping this wouldn't be the only suggestion. This one is painfully annoying because of the different monitor sizes, and the taskbar taking up real-estate on one monitor but not the other. It means I have to make the overall size shorter on both sides, and then I have to manually size each window within excel to try and take up as much room as is left. Is there really no way to get two separate windows launched?
    – Alain
    Apr 21, 2011 at 14:30
  • 1
    To address your taskbar issue, you could auto-hide the taskbar or perhaps locate it on the side of your monitor to prevent any vertical differences it would otherwise cause. Right-click on the start menu and go to Properties to change these settings.
    – J Rose
    Apr 21, 2011 at 14:41
  • 2
    I'm only willing to go to so much trouble ;)
    – Alain
    Apr 21, 2011 at 17:45
  • If I were you, I'd look for a utility/.ahk script/etc. to dull the pain. I do sympathize, I run a portrait + landscape configuration at my workplace, and have had to deal with plenty of annoyances that result from it.
    – Arctiic
    Feb 5, 2020 at 2:51
12

I have the same problem but I found this and it works great!

When you open multiple Microsoft Word documents, you are able to put one on your main monitor and one on your secondary monitor to compare, copy and paste from one document to another. However, if you open multiple spreadsheets from Excel, you can't do the same thing! This has annoyed me since 2007 when Microsoft introduced the functionality in Word but not in Excel.

Well, I found a way around it. Here is how.

  1. Open your first Excel spreadsheet. Place it on the monitor you wish to work with it.
  2. DO NOT open the second spreadsheet with the Excel program that is open. Instead, go to your Start Menu and open Excel from there. Then do a File >> Open and open your second spreadsheet.
  3. Place the second spreadsheet on the monitor you wish to view the spreadsheet.

As far as I can tell, since you're opening a second instance of Excel, you can place it wherever you wish.

4
  • 4
    From what I've read the OP doesn't want to open two instances.
    – slhck
    May 2, 2013 at 11:11
  • This doesn't work if you want multiple views into the same file. Nov 12, 2015 at 20:17
  • This should be the correct answer. The first, accepted answer does not provide the solution to the question that was asked. I'm not sure if there is a way to flag this secondarily as the correct answer.
    – ssaltman
    Nov 10, 2016 at 15:09
  • Now what OP wanted... but was what I wanted. So thanks!
    – the_new_mr
    Feb 12, 2019 at 14:00
8

There's a New Window feature in tab View, but it still opens in the same parent window, because Excel is an MDI application. So you'll still need to resize the parent window to cover both screens

excel new window


Update

This seems to be fixed in Excel 2013, which changed to SDI only

excel 2013 new window

2

A coworker of mine accomplished this by using a piece of software called UltraMon. Instead of dragging the Excel application window across both desktops (which I agree, is annoying), you can right click the application in your taskbar and click "Maximize to Desktop."

0

In Excel 2010,

To display the two files side by side instead of on top of each other, you have to load the two files as two separate instances. To do this, you must open a new instance of Excel, then open/create a workbook.

Summarized steps as below.

  1. Open the first Excel file you need to access and put that on Monitor.
  2. Open a second instance of Excel on Monitor #2 by going to the Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft Office > Excel.
  3. Move this second instance of Excel to Monitor #2.
  4. Open or create a workbook from the second instance of Excel that’s now on Monitor #2.
1
  • 2
    From original question: "I can't just open the workbooks in separate instances because I need to make use of features like paste formatting, and all of that goes away when the workbooks aren't in the same instance."
    – Alain
    Oct 26, 2015 at 11:21
0

Click on the Office button (upper left corner) → Excel options → Advanced → General → check "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" box → OK. Excel spreadsheets will now open as a new file each time.

Please note: checking "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" box will sometimes cause your spreadsheets save with data on them to open as blank or grey spreadsheets. You will have to uncheck "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" box to eliminate this problem. It's kind of a catch 22.

1
  • 4
    Again, this all excel documents being opened in a separate instance, which the question explains leads to a whole slew of other problems such as not being able to copy formulas or formatting between sheets. Please check other answers (especially down-voted ones) to avoid repeating their mistakes.
    – Alain
    Nov 19, 2012 at 16:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .