If you try to open a new spreadsheet from the file menu in excel, it just overlaps your current view. The side by side view is not much help either, even with two displays. To open up a completely separate Microsoft Excel Window, simply have one excel sheet open, then go to the Start Menu and open up Microsoft Excel again. This will run another completely independent instance of the program.
Matt is a serial entrepreneur who is obsessed with technology. 
There are 5 comment(s) so far ;)
You have saved me countless hours of work swapping from one page to another THANKYOU
An even easier way is to go to, in excel’s menu bar, go to tools, then select options. On the \general\ tab, make sure the \ignore other applications\ box is checked. This will make sure each time you open an excel file, it opens an entirely separate instance of the program.
NO, guys. This is not helpful. It does not work with linked excel files.
If you have two spread sheets linked one to another, what you do on the worksheet on the excel aplication 1 is not recognized by the worksheet on excel aplication 2 until you save them and update links… this is not functional.
This solution is bananas.
Thanks Adam, you’re a genius. I’ve been wondering for ages how to get MS Excel to open up in separate instances particularly when you open up spreadsheets from within folders. They would always open up within the same instance rather than opening up in several instances which is ideal when comparing more than one spreadsheet. Your simple instructions regarding MS Excel settings did just the trick. Cheers
how do you change the setting to make the excel open in other window in excel 2007