Chrissy, Don thanks for your responses. Yes, it appears that holding down the shift key doesn't disable the auto_open macros from running if, like I do, you open an excel file by double clicking an icon. It doesn't matter whether an instance of Excel is already open or not. It seems the only way to prevent the auto_open macro from running using the shift key is to open the file from the file menu in Excel.

Malone


"Don Lloyd" wrote in message ...
For the shift key to work you need to to open the file from within Excel.

Don
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"Malone" wrote in message
...
I understand that depressing the shift key when opening an Excel file should
prevent an Auto_Open macro from running. But I find it doesn't. Auto_Open
macros run whether I am pressing the shift key or not.

Any suggestions?