Open Worksheets In New Window In Excel 2010 Without Administrative Access

Software configuration:

• Microsoft Office 2010 Professional (Excel 2010)
• Windows 7 Enterprise SP1
• Logged into the computer as a Standard User (not Administrator or Power User)

Problem:

• Want to open every Excel workbook (typically accessed via hyperlink in Outlook or directly using Windows Explorer) in a separate instance of Excel for easy multi-monitor arrangement
• No administrative access, so most traditional approaches don't work

What do I do? See below for the solution.

Solution:

A simple registry edit in HKEY_CURRENT_USER (which most Standard User Windows accounts should have read/write access to!) will resolve the problem.

First, Save the following data into a text file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.12]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.12\shell]
@="OpenNewWindow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\OpenNewWindow]
@="&OpenNewWindow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\OpenNewWindow\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""
"command2"=hex(7):78,00,62,00,27,00,42,00,56,00,35,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,\
  21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,4d,00,4b,00,4b,00,53,00,6b,00,45,00,58,00,43,\
  00,45,00,4c,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,3e,00,56,00,69,00,6a,00,71,00,\
  42,00,6f,00,66,00,28,00,59,00,38,00,27,00,77,00,21,00,46,00,49,00,64,00,31,\
  00,67,00,4c,00,51,00,20,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell]
@="OpenNewWindow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\OpenNewWindow]
@="&OpenNewWindow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\OpenNewWindow\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""
"command2"=hex(7):78,00,62,00,27,00,42,00,56,00,35,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,\
  21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,4d,00,4b,00,4b,00,53,00,6b,00,45,00,58,00,43,\
  00,45,00,4c,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,3e,00,56,00,69,00,6a,00,71,00,\
  42,00,6f,00,66,00,28,00,59,00,38,00,27,00,77,00,21,00,46,00,49,00,64,00,31,\
  00,67,00,4c,00,51,00,20,00,00,00,00,00

Second, rename the text file with the .reg extension (NOT .reg.txt!).

Third, double-click the file, and click Yes at the prompt, then OK at the second prompt. It should look something like this:

Fourth, close all open instances of Excel (you may have to restart your computer or look in Task Manager if there are hidden open instances).

Fifth, try opening files by double-clicking them in Windows Explorer, or by clicking on a hyperlink in an email or document. Each workbook file should open in a separate instance of Excel, independently controllable, rather than in the single-window MDI interface.

If there are specific files that you want to open in the same instance as the most recent instance of Excel, you can right-click the file and select the "Open" option (not OpenNewWindow).