Ok, so this might seem like a stretch as a Marketing Tip, except that I’m ALWAYS in Excel spreadsheets either creating or editing media plans… In Microsoft Office 2007, somehow they messed up Excel preventing it from opening two files in two separate windows.

PROBLEM: If you have one instance of Excel open on the task bar and you just try to open another window by clicking the Office button and then new, it will open a new spreadsheet like it is part of the same workbook (even though it is a separate file). You can’t separate them and see them both simultaneously on two screens or side-by-side on the same screen. Clicking between the pages on the task bar simply places the most recent spreadsheet on top so you have to flip back and forth.

SOLUTION: To have separate instances of Excel open on separate screens, you need to open the second instance of the program manually – go to START, ALL PROGRAMS, MICROSOFT OFFICE and then launch EXCEL from there. Now you can open your 2nd file and have 2 different Excel windows open. 

I stick them one on each monitor, making life just that much better.   BTW – if you aren’t working with a two monitor set up, you should be. I should probably blog on that too…