Typical, found the answer in the next search entry I tried!

You need to hack the registry as found here http://brett.batie.com/?p=85 :
Delete the following lines in the registry (or rename):
HKCR\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec
HKCR\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec
and change the below like shown:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\comman d
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e €œ%1€³
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /e €œ%1€³

Works just like in XP.

Thanks!

"Iain" wrote:

I would like to open each workbook in a new instance when opening from
explorer. In XP I changed the file context menu Open command to include the
"%1" parameter, and this worked well.
Now I have Windows7 I'm having problems. I have again added the parameter,
and disabled the DDE message [open("%1")] (as I did in XP) and now excel
opens blank, (there was already an /e switch which I gather tells Excel to
not open a blank worksheet). I have run the command via the command line and
it works without problem, so I assume that the parameter is just not being
sent to Excel through explorer.

Is this a Windows7 problem then, rather than an Excel one? Is there a DDE
message that I can send instead of Open that will tell Excel to open in a new
instance?

Using Excel 2007on Window7 x86.

Many Thanks