How To Show Two Spreadsheets In Microsoft Excel

Excel has a habit of opening all of the spreadsheets in a single window called a "multiple document interface (MDI)." Even opening a new window using the "new window" button on the view tab opens another window in the MDI. This makes it  difficult to compare spreadsheets manually because Excel does not provide a straightforward option for opening spreadsheets in separate windows. I show two cases of showing multiple windows for Excel.

One Excel Window (with 2 MDI windows)

Open two spreadsheets in the same MDI (or one spreadsheet and 2 MDI windows using the "new window" button on the view tab). The windows can either be manually resized or the "Arrange All" button. Clicking "View Side By Side" also allows for synchronized scrolling between the windows.



After arranging the windows...

Two Actual Windows

Sometimes it is desirable to open spreadsheets in separate Excel windows so that they can be analyzed side by side. This is as simple as starting a second Excel process and opening the second spreadsheet in the second Window.



The resulting Windows (and spreadsheets) can be resized as needed and even spread across two monitors.



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