It sounds like you changed the wrong box.

There's a "At startup, open all files in:" box and a "default file location"
box.

Maybe one of the 300 files that opened changed the toolbar.

I'd do this:
Close excel.

Use windows start button|search to find all the *.xlb files and delete them.
Remember to look in hidden folders, too.

This will reset the toolbars to their "factory default"--something that
reinstalling excel won't do! You will have to recustomize any changes you want,
though.

If you can't find *.xlb using windows start button|Search, then you could use an
old DOS command to search and delete them.

Windows Start button|Run
type:
CMD
(to get to the Command prompt)

C:
(to get to the C: drive--change this to the drive that excel is installed on)

cd\
(to get to the root directory)

dir *.xlb /s

The /s says to search subfolders, too.

Make a note of the locations of the found files and then delete those files.

Nanuk99AK wrote:

Dave, thank you so much for your assistance.

I use a non-standard system for my files (e.g. I do not put everything in My
Documents) so each time I get a new computer I actually go in and set those
options myself. My default location for Excel files is C:\MSOffice\Excel.
So it's highly unlikely that this is the issue.

Additioanlly, something else odd is happening. When it stops opening files
several of the Menus are missing - Tools among them. Now the only 4 menus
available a File, GoTo, Print (yes, now it is on top, NOT under the File
menu!) and View.

I'm beginning to think something got corrupted and I may need to re-load
Office. I already loaded the Office 2003 Service Pack 3 with no change to
the problem. If there was still a Help menu item I would try looking for a
repair tool there, unfortunately that's not an option available.

Thanks again for your help!
Rosemary D
Anchorage

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

Maybe you set a option to something you didn't want:

Tools|Options|General tab
make sure that the "At startup, open all files in:" is empty.
(the textbox--not the actual folder.)

Nanuk99AK wrote:

When I attempt to open ONE Excel (2003) file, all 306 Excel files I have ever
created open at the same time.

How do I make it stop?

I have tried exiting the Excel program, however it queries whether I want to
Save Changes and there is not a "No to All" response available.

--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson