Leaving references is easy to do. You need to qualify all references from
the Excel application level or at least from a reference that leads back to
the Excel application level. Sometimes this can be subtle. For example if
you did a sort

oxlApp.Workbooks(1).Worksheets(1).Range("A1").Curr entRegion.Sort _
Key1:=Range("A1"), Order1:=xlAscending

This would create a non releasable reference, since the argument to Key1 is
an unqualified reference.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I am automating excel 97 from Access 97. When I finish running all my
code, I leave the instance of excel open but set all references to excel
objects to nothing.

When I then close excel, excel.exe is not showing in the Task Manager
processes. However, if I close the workbook, the instance of excel is
hidden and excel.exe still shows in the Task Manager processes.

Has anyone come across this. I was thinking that maybe i had left some
references to excel objects still valid but cannot find where I may have
done this.

Would be grateful for any help.

Thanks
Michelle