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