Avoid automatically switching to other virtual desktop when opening a file
I have been using virtual desktops in Windows 10 for a while. It works fine, the only issue I found and would love to solve is as the following scenario:
- I have Virtual Desktop 1 with Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word Open on Sheet.xlsx or Doc.docx
- I have Virtual Desktop 2 and about to open another sheet / document, Sheet2.xlsx or Doc2.xlsx
In this case, it switches to Desktop 1, because it already has Excel / Word open, while I expect it to open on Desktop 2 since I am there. Of course, I could move Sheet2.xlsx / Doc2.xlsx window to Desktop 2, but I have to do it manually from multitasking.
I didn't try other applications, but I would guess it's the same behavior.
Is there anyway to avoid this behavior and have Windows open the other document / sheet in the current virtual desktop?
Since MS Office 2013, the windows of each Office app run in a single instance of the executable. When an instance opens a new window, Task View first switches to an existing app window. (My other gripe is that multiple UNDO commands backtrack chronologically across multiple windows, which is never what I want.)
Word and Excel
I solved the problem in Office 2016 by using command line options to run each Word and Excel window in a separate instance. For Word, the option is /N; for Excel it is /X. It costs a little extra startup time and a little extra memory. I don't run a lot of windows at once, so for me the reduced aggravation is worth it.
For desktop icons, custom toolbars, and other shortcuts, you can simply edit the properties and add the option to the target command line:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "C:\Data\Weather\Weather Log.xls"
Making the option apply when you open a file (e.g. by double-click) is a little harder.
-
Open a command window running as Administrator.
-
Find the file type associated with a file extension:
> assoc .xls .xls=Excel.Sheet.8
- Find the command used to open that file type:
> ftype excel.sheet.8 excel.sheet.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" "%1"
- Replace that command with one that includes the option:
> ftype excel.sheet.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" excel.sheet.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1"
- Repeat from step 2 for each file extension you use (e.g. .xlsx). Ones with the same file type need no further change.
You could do a wholesale change by capturing all Excel ftype definitions into a .BAT file, editing the file to add ftype at the start of each line and /X after each .EXE, and (for .BAT scripts) changing %1 to %%1
> ftype | find /i "office16\excel" > ftypes.bat
> [your text editor] ftypes.bat
(make the changes described above)
Running the resulting script should produce output similar to:
> ftypes.bat > ftype dqyfile=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1" dqyfile=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Addin="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Addin="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Backup="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Backup="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Chart=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1" Excel.Chart=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Chart.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Chart.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.CSV="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.CSV="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Macrosheet="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Macrosheet="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.OpenDocumentSpreadsheet.12="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.OpenDocumentSpreadsheet.12="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Sheet.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Sheet.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Sheet.12="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Sheet.12="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.SLK="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.SLK="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Template="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Template="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Template.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Template.8="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.Workspace="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.Workspace="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excel.XLL="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" Excel.XLL="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X "%1" > ftype Excelhtmlfile="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X Excelhtmlfile="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X > ftype Excelhtmltemplate="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X Excelhtmltemplate="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /X > ftype iqyfile=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1" iqyfile=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE /X "%1"
Other Office Apps
Some Office apps, notably PowerPoint, have no option to start a new instance. However, running an app as a different user creates a new instance. So one workaround is to create local Windows users for as many virtual desktops as you want to open PowerPoint on concurrently. This scheme is not ideal, because you have to remember which users/instances you already have running before opening a new one. If you have only a few, it may not be too bad.
To create each user:
Settings > Accounts > Family & Other Users > [+] Add someone else to this PC
- I don't have this person's sign-in information
- Add a user without a Microsoft account
- Enter new Username, Password, and Security Questions
To create a shortcut which starts PowerPoint as a specified user, edit the shortcut's properties to use a command such as:
runas /user:user2 /savecred "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\POWERPNT.EXE"
runas prompts for the user's password. /savecred saves the password the first time and uses the saved password subsequently. You may want to initially make each shortcut Run: Normal window, and later change it to Run: Minimized.
These shortcuts could be either on the Windows desktop or in a custom toolbar menu. Once PowerPoint is running, you can either open a PPT file from there, or drag in a file from File Explorer. If you are working on a few PPT files for an extended time, you could create a shortcut for each file, specifying which user to run as.
Opening a PowerPoint Instance from a PPT File
Unfortunately, dragging a PPT file onto one of the desktop shortcuts described above won't work, because runas requires that the full PowerPoint command line be quoted. Shortcuts for opening a PPT file directly need an intermediate script to sort out the quotes. Create a script such as "PowerPoint_User.bat":
:: Usage: PowerPoint_User <username> <PPT filename>
:: Opens a PPT file as a specified user, starting a new PowerPoint instance on
:: the current virtual desktop if that user was not already running PowerPoint.
:: (%~f2 expands %2 to full path with no quotes. See "call /?".)
@echo off
C:\Windows\System32\runas.exe /user:%1 /savecred "POWERPNT.EXE \"%~f2\""
Then create a shortcut for each user, with a command such as:
C:\bin\PowerPoint_User.bat user2
If the shortcut is on your Windows desktop, then you can drag a PPT file onto it. If you create the shortcut in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo, then you can click right on a PPT file and open it from the "Send to" menu. In either case, remember that each shortcut will prompt for a password the first time it is run.
(If you need to debug the shortcut, set it to Run: Normal window, prepend cmd /k to the command, and remove @echo off from the script.)
Excel uses the same executable to open sheets, that's why it switches the desktop. The solution is to open a second intstance of Excel:
Go to Desktop 2:
- Open Start Menu, search for Excel
- Press ALT + Click on Excel Symbol
- Press Yes when asked "Do you want to start a new instance of Excel?"
I found that Excel only uses the newest instance to open sheets when opened in the File explorer, even if another instance is selected.
So as a workaround, if you want to later open another sheet on Desktop 1, go to the instance on that desktop (open a new one, if closed) and then click on "File -> Open" to open a new sheet in that instance.