Andrew Watson

Can I open 2 Excel files side by side using seperate monitors?

Posted on 18. Mar, 2008 by Andrew Watson in Shortcuts

As technology is used more, people demand more, and more people are now using multiple monitors, both work and home. According to a survey by Jon Peddie Research and highlighted in The New York Times, adding an extra monitor gives your output a considerable boost – between 20 and 30 percent.

Often to maximise the boost in output, a number of shortcuts can be used. One answers a question I hear more and more ‘Can I open 2 Excel files side by side using seperate monitors?’. Well the simple answer is ‘Yes’… but as with most computer related questions it may not be as straight forward as it could be.

Based on Ecel 2007, to date I have found 3 methods of achieving this:

1. Open Excel 2007, enter some data or open a previous file. Instead of ‘New’ from the Office button, open a new version of Excel using the Excel icon from the Start menu
2. Open Excel 2007, enter some data or open a previous file. Click on the ‘Start button’, select  ’Run…’ and under ‘Open: ‘ type  Excel, and a new version of Excel starts
3. For a more permanent version that opens a new version of Excel everytime you select ‘New’ from the Office button, click the Office button -> click Excel Options (look at the bottom of the drop down menu) -> click Advanced. Under the general tab, tick ‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange’.

Update: Problems can occur using option 3, where Excel opens without displaying a workbook. Microsoft has a help page relating to this issue.