Launch new Office2K3 App Instance by default?

[TSU]

New Office default behavior which is different from all preceding is if an
Office App is now already open, if you doubleclick on a file or click on a
tray icon, the existing instance will display the default view. Traditional
behavior going all the way back to Office 5 (Win3.1) is to launch a new
application instance. This is important if you need to view multiple works
but don't have ample screen display space... tiling is completely out of the
question and switching "windows" within an instance is too cumbersome, both
require <many> clicks to switch when multiple instances supports not only
single click switching but more versatile use of display space. Also, for
whatever reason sometimes the different "windows" of work aren't enumerated
so I can't switch without closing.

This is a <major> Productivity issue, is there a way to change the default
behavior to launch another application instance rather than a window within
an existing instance?

TIA,

Tony Su

 

[Beth Melton]

Actually the SDI (Single Document Interface) was introduced in Office
2003 so it's been around for a few versions.

Note SDI doesn't start a new instance of the application, IOW there
aren't multiple occurrences of the application running, such as
Winword.exe, instead there is a single application instance but each
document will display as a single task on the Windows Taskbar. Prior
to Office 2000 if there were multiple tasks then there were indeed
multiple instances of the application running and using resources.
Which, btw, in past versions you could modify this behavior and use
the same instance for multiple files instead of starting new instances
of the application.

In any event, to control how each document displays in the Windows
Taskbar, go to Tools/Options/View and located the "Windows in Taskbar"
option.

I'm also wondering if you are using Windows XP and are encountering
the "Group similar taskbar buttons" feature. If you find when clicking
a task a menu opens for you to select a specific file then right-click
an empty area of the Windows Taskbar and select "Properties". On the
Taskbar tab turn off "Group similar taskbar buttons".

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

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