Why can't I open two files with the same name - but different dri

G

gfhasman

I have two files:
c:\temp\fred.xls
f:\course\grades\fred.xls

When I try to open them side by side for comparison purposes, Excel says I
can't do that, EVEN if they are in different folders. Doesn't Excel use path
names as part of the file name??? What's going on here? How can I fix it?

TIA
 
D

Dave Peterson

Rename one of them.

You can't open two files with the same "base name" in excel.
 
J

Jay

I have two files:
c:\temp\fred.xls
f:\course\grades\fred.xls

When I try to open them side by side for comparison purposes, Excel
says I can't do that, EVEN if they are in different folders. ...
How can I fix it?
Click to expand...

You can open each file in its own Excel window. Putting the two windows
side by side, you can still make the comparison.

Here are two different ways:

#1. From the Windows "Start" menu, use the cascaded menu to open Excel.
Once Excel is running, use "File >> Open" to open an Excel file. Repeat
these steps for the second file.

#2. Point to an Excel file on the desktop or in a folder. With the right
mouse button, click "Send To >> Excel". Repeat the steps for the second
file.

For #2, you might not see "Excel" in the "Send To" menu at first. To add it
there, put a shortcut to the Excel program into the folder
C:\Windows\SendTo\

(I have Excel 97 and Win98.)
 
D

Dave Peterson

You can open each workbook in a separate instance of excel. But it does make
things a little more difficult.

Try copying a range from one workbook to the other.
 
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