When you open multiple Excel workbooks, each workbook opens in a separate window but in the same copy or instance of Excel. There may be times when you want to open a workbook in a new instance of Excel. For example, when you're running calculations on a large workbook and want to work on a different workbook at the same time.
Note
In current versions of Excel, each workbook opens in its own window by default, but multiple workbooks typically run in the same Excel instance.
Here's how to open another instance of Excel:
- Right-click the Excel icon from your taskbar.
- While pressing Alt, click the workbook you want to open from the list.