Someone else answered this in another thread, and it was the answer I wanted.
The original reply came from in case he wants credit. :)
I'm going to use this for PowerPoint, too.

-John Weglian


The answer involves changing the file association stuff in windows. Go
to explorer, choose tools, then folder options. Click the File Types
tab. Scroll down to the XLS extension. Click the Advanced button.
Choose "open", then click the edit button.

At the end of the "Application used" entry, you'll probably see: /e
After this, add: "%1" (be sure to include the quotes [and a space
between the e and the first "].)

Then uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox. Then click OK. (Windows re-checks
it at some point for some reason, but it still works)

OK your way out of the file types dialog.

Now when you double-click a spreadsheet, it will open it in a new
instance of Excel.

Hope it helps!

Dave


"Carol Crowley" wrote:

How do I configure Excel to open multiple files in multiple instances? There
has to be an easier way than opening Excel multiple times and THEN opening
your files.

If you are exploring a folder and you click on a Word doc, then click on
another Word Doc, they open in separate instances. However, when I open a
second Excel sheet this same way, they appear as if they are separate
instances in the taskbar, but are truly the same instance.

I know I really need to simply remember to "Close" instead of "Exit", but
there has to be a way to configure this...

Please help!