[Excel 2010] How to Open Spreadsheets in New Window?

Microsoft article How to open Excel files in separate windows in Windows 7 explains how to open Excel files in separate instances of Excel, but this doesn’t work in Windows 10 systems. There is an additional step needed to make it work in Windows 10.

The additional step is to delete the value named "Command", in the right-pane of this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command

and

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command

Note: Do not accidentally delete the "Command" subkey. You need to delete or rename the multi-string value (REG_MULTI_SZ) named "Command", in the right pane.

Make Excel Files Open in New Window (REG File)

Download excel-2010-new-window.zip, unzip and extract the REG files to a folder. Double-click to run it.

There is also an "undo" file included, in case you want to restore the default settings.

REG File Contents

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""
 

Hope that helps!