Knowledgebase & FAQs

When opening multiple spreadsheets in Excel only the latest one appears to be open, how do I view the others?

[Applies to: Microsoft Office 2010 and earlier verisons - Office 2013 no longer has this issue with Excel]

When you open multiple spreadsheets by simply double clicking on them Excel opens all of them within a single copy of Excel, therefore as far as your computer is concerned there is only one instance of Excel running, and it won't show the other spreadsheets in your task bar.

There are a few ways you can view all of the spreadsheets you have open :

1) Within Excel select the "View" tab, on the right hand side you'll see a button called "Switch Windows", selecting that will show all the spreadsheets you have open currently.

2) Start another copy of Excel and then open the required spreadsheet from within that copy - If you open a second copy of Excel it will show up on your task bar, however, simply double clicking a spreadsheet will cause it to be opened in the original copy of Excel, so you must manually go to the Open dialog and open it that way.

3) While using the first option works, having to switch to the View tab from where ever you are can be annoying. To make it easier you can customise Excel to show the switch windows icon in the top left menu (called the Quick Access Toolbar) next to the Save, Undo and Redo buttons, so it is available regardless of the tab you're currently using. To do this, click on the Office button (the circular button in the far top left of Excel), then click Excel Options. On the left hand menu go to Customize, then on the right choose "View tab" from the "Choose command from" menu. Find and select "Switch Windows" and click Add, then finally click OK. You'll now see the switch windows button available in the top left of Excel.

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