How to view spreadsheets side-by-side in separate windows in excel 2013
You can quickly compare two worksheets in the same workbook or in different workbooks by viewing them side by side. You can also arrange multiple worksheets to view them all at the same time.
NOTE: The images in this article were created in Excel 2016. If you’re using an earlier version your display might be slightly different.
View two worksheets in the same workbook side by side
On the View tab, in the Window group, click New Window .
On the View tab, in the Window group, click View Side by Side .
In each workbook window, click the sheet that you want to compare.
To scroll both worksheets at the same time, click Synchronous Scrolling in the Window group on the View tab.
NOTE: This option is available only when View Side by Side is turned on.
If you resize the workbook windows for optimal viewing, you can click Reset Window Position to return to the original settings.
To restore a workbook window to full size, click Maximize at the upper-right corner of the workbook window.
View two worksheets of different workbooks side by side
Open both of the workbooks that contain the worksheets that you want to compare.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click View Side by Side .
If you have more than two workbooks open, Excel displays the Compare Side by Side dialog box. In this dialog box, under Compare Side by Side with, click the workbook that contains the worksheet that you want to compare with your active worksheet, and then click OK .
In each workbook window, click the sheet that you want to compare.
To scroll both worksheets at the same time, click Synchronous Scrolling in the Window group on the View tab.
NOTE: This option is available only when View Side by Side is turned on.
In Microsoft Excel 2013 and Excel 2016, workbooks that you open in Excel are no longer displayed as multiple workbook windows inside a single Excel window. Instead, they are shown as separate Excel windows. Because workbooks don’t share the same Excel window, they are displayed with their own ribbon, and you can view the open workbooks on different monitors.
If you resize the workbook windows for optimal viewing, you can click Reset Window Position to return to the original settings.
To restore a workbook window to full size, click Maximize at the upper-right corner of the workbook window.
View multiple worksheets at the same time
Open one or more workbooks that contain the worksheets that you want to view at the same time.
Do one of the following:
If the worksheets that you want to view are in the same workbook, do the following:
Click a worksheet that you want to view.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click New Window .
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each sheet that you want to view.
If the worksheets that you want to view are in different workbooks, continue with step 3.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Arrange All .
Under Arrange , click the option that you want.
If the sheets that you want to view are all located in the active workbook, select the Windows of active workbook check box.
This week we continue exploring new features in Excel 2013. This post is brought to you by Chad Rothschiller, a Program Manager in the Excel Team.
“How do I open my workbooks in separate windows?” This has been a common inquiry from many of our customers who want to look at their workbooks side by side, or spread them across more than one monitor.
Good news: starting with Excel 2013, each of your workbooks opens in its own window, similar to Word and PowerPoint today. That means that each workbook has its own ribbon and top-level window frame that you can move and resize independent from your other open workbooks. This functionality can improve multitasking, visibility, and analysis across workbooks.
In computing terminology, this is called Single Document Interface (SDI). Versions of Excel before the 2013 release used Multiple Document Interface (MDI), where all workbook windows were contained within a top-level “master” container window.
Here’s an example of four new workbooks. Note that each one has its own window and ribbon:
Microsoft Excel
Turn data into insights.
How to arrange your windows
Now that you have multiple windows, how should you arrange them? Well, there are plenty of options and below are some favorites:
Smart Snapping: Grab the top of the window, and drag it to the top, left, or right edge of your screen, then let go. The window automatically resize:
- Drag Left: Position on the left half of the screen
- Drag Right: Position on the right half of the screen
- Drag Top: Fills the entire screen
Windows Taskbar: If you hold down the Shift Key and then right click the Excel icon on the Windows Task Bar you will see options for arranging your open windows. The cool thing about these options is that if you have multiple monitors, Windows remembers each workbook’s monitor and arranges workbooks displayed within the same monitor.
Excel Ribbon: Click on View the Arrange All to see more options for arranging your workbooks:
Note that you can still create new windows (or multiple windows) showing the same workbook. Similarly, the “View Side by Side” and “Synchronous Scrolling” features work just like they used to.
Tell us what you think
Thanks for learning more about this new feature in Excel 2013. I hope you all get wonderful benefits from being able to arrange workbooks on your screens! In a future post, we’ll go into a couple more advanced topics such as “Merging Instances and Long Running Operations” and how they work with pre-existing add-ins. In the meantime, let us know in the comments how you’re planning to use this new feature or anything else you’d like to see in future versions.
—Chad Rothschiller, Excel Program Manager
Bottom Line: Learn how to view and compare two worksheets in the same workbook with the New Window feature, split screen view, and synchronous scrolling.
Skill Level: Beginner
Video Tutorial
Make Comparisons Between Sheets Easier
Sometimes we need to flip back and forth between two worksheets in order to compare numbers, copy and paste entries, or create formulas. In these instances, it can be much easier to look at the two (or more) sheets side by side.
To accomplish this, we can use the New Window feature in Excel, as well as some desktop shortcuts to create a split screen view of the the sheets we want to look at simultaneously. It’s a fairly easy habit to pick up and will save you lots of time and frustration in the long run.
Creating a New Window
We can view two or more sheets from the same workbook by using the New Window feature.
To make a new window, go to the View tab on the Ribbon and press the New Window button. This will create a new window of the active workbook (the workbook you were viewing when you pressed New Window).
The keyboard shortcut to open a new window is Alt + W + N .
Once you’ve created a new window, you can differentiate between the new and the old by looking at the title bar at the top. The new window will have a dash and the number 2 (then 3, 4, 5 and so on as you continue to open new windows).
Changes are Synced Between Windows
Keep in mind that you are NOT creating a duplicate file, just a new window to look at the same file. Any change you make to the workbook in one window will be reflected in the other. It does NOT matter which window you make changes in. All windows will be updated immediately.
Toggling Between Windows
You can now select a different sheet in the new window to view and edit it. You can then quickly flip between windows by using the Alt + Tab
keyboard shortcut. Hold Alt, then press and release Tab.
This is a very handy shortcut that makes it easy to flip between windows (sheets) when doing common actions like copy & paste.
Create a Split Screen View
To tile the windows side by side, you can simply click on the title bar and then drag the window to the right of the screen. If you have multiple windows open on your computer, you may have to select which window you want to view on the left.
I’ve written a whole post about tips for split screen usage for both Windows and Mac users. I encourage you to check it out and see how you can improve your productivity game with split screens.
Note: This behavior is slightly different in Excel 2010 and earlier. See the section below for details.
Synchronous Scrolling
One cool feature to employ while using a split screen is that you can scroll both sheets at the same time. This is especially helpful if you need to compare line by line, looking for differences in similar sets of data.
To turn on synchronous scrolling, just go to the View tab on the Ribbon and choose the Synchronous Scrolling button.
The Synchronous Scrolling Button may be grayed out. If so, you need to turn on View Side by Side. You can do this by clicking the button directly above Synchronous Scrolling. Keyboard shortcut: Alt + W + B
When you click on View Side by Side, it tends to reset any split screen setup you already had, so you may need to drag your window to the right again to see them side by side.
Once your windows are side by side and you’ve clicked the Synchronous Scrolling button, you will see how both sheets scroll simultaneously. This is the case whether you are using the up and down arrows on your keyboard, the scroll bar in either of the windows, or the roller wheel on your mouse.
See the video above for more details on this issue.
And just so you know, you can also use Synchronous Scrolling with two different workbooks as well.
Closing the New Window
Once you are finished, you can simply close either of the windows by pressing the red X in the top right of the application window. This will just close the additional window, and NOT close the file. The “-2” will disappear after the file name and you will be left with only one window open for the file.
You will NOT be prompted to save the file when you close the additional window. You will only be prompted to save when you close the last remaining window for the file.
Close the “-2” Window First!
Even though you can close either window, it’s best to close the “-2” window first. The new window does not retain the settings for gridlines or freeze panes. This is an unfortunate limitation of Excel.
If you close the “-1” window and then make changes to the workbook, you will lose the gridline and freeze pane settings that are applied to each sheet.
I posted a macro in the comment below that apples the gridline settings for each sheet to the new window. I’ll do a dedicated post on this in the future.
And a big thanks to Andre for pointing out the issue with closing window “-2” first.
Excel 2010 and Earlier
If you’re using Excel 2010 or earlier for Windows then the process for viewing multiple windows is slightly different.
These versions of Excel used the Multiple Document Interface (MDI). This means all Excel files/windows are opened in the same application window. Excel is able to display multiple documents.
You can view multiple windows within Excel by clicking the Restore button for the current window.
The Arrange All and View Side by Side buttons can still be used as well. That will be the same as the instructions above.
When you want to view a single window again you can click the Maximize button in any window.
Excel 2013 and beyond moved to a Single Document Interface (SDI), which is what I explained in the article above.
Conclusion
I hope this post has been helpful to you for learning how to create a new window and view two (or more) worksheets from the same workbook.
The full keyboard shortcut to setup the new window in split screen is:
Alt + W + N , Alt + W + B
This view can save us a lot of time when comparing data and tying out numbers between sheets.
Please leave a comment below with any questions or suggestions. Thank you! 🙂
Viewing spreadsheets side-by-side in Excel has always been a bit awkward. But Excel 2013 puts each spreadsheet in its own window, making this task much easier.
If you’ve been considering an upgrade to Office 2013 from Office 2007 or Office 2010, there’s one feature that is definitely worthwhile: Excel 2013 now displays multiple open spreadsheets in their own window, which lets you view them side-by-side, snap them to either side of the screen, etc. You’d think the ability to easily compare workbooks side-by-side would have made it in to one of the eight major releases over the last 28 years. But the fact that we had to write a tutorial on How to View Excel 2010 Spreadsheets Side-by-Side for Comparison proves that the functionality wasn’t exactly intuitive.
Fortunately, with Excel 2013, there’s no need to fuss around in the View ribbon. Simply open two Excel spreadsheets and snap them to either side of the screen. Easy!
The View ribbon is still available, as is the View Side by Side option. To use it, open two spreadsheets, then click View –> View Side by Side.
By default, this will arrange your windows horizontally.
You may want to collapse the ribbon (CTRL + F1) to get a little bit more viewing space.
To arrange the windows differently, click Arrange All.
This will give you a few different options: Tiled, Horizontal, Vertical and Cascade.
While you’re here, also try Synchronous Scrolling. This synchronizes your windows scroll bar so you can scroll both of them at once. You must have View Side by Side enabled for this to work.
Conclusion
Okay, granted, this feature isn’t exactly groundbreaking. But if you knew how many times someone at my office has asked “How the heck do you view two Excel spreadsheets at once?” then you’d appreciate this subtle, yet much needed change just as much as I do.
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I want to open 2 excel files in separate windows to view them side by side. but each time I try, it opens them in the same window
I don’t have 2010 but in 2007 I would go to View>Arrange All>Vertical.
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Thanks for the help , but didn’t work for me , still open in the same window , cant drag it at all
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Then you are not following the instructions
If you open an excel workbook, then start a new instance of excel (from All Programs) it will open a second instance of excel and then you use file>Open to open the file
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I try that but didn’t work , maybe I am not doing it right btw I’m using windows 8 , maybe that is one of the reason
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I followed the same instructions and it only works for the new files, but not for the older files that I had created. In the older files, they can only be able to view side by side within the same window, which is not what I want (I want them to be view in 2 different window).
Therefore, is there any settings where it will works for the older files?
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Excel SDI Interface (Single Document Interface)
Open multiple excel workbooks, each in it’s own excel interface when double-clicking. Default is to open all workbooks in the same interface, MDI (Multiple Document Interface)
i.e. Double click an Excel workbook and have it open in it’s own interface. Double clicking another workbook will open in another instance.
Windows XP (Office 2003)
1. Open excel. Open ‘Tools-Options’. Select General tab.
– Check ‘Ignore other applications’ checkbox.
2. Open file-explorer. Open ‘Tools-Folder Options’. Select File Types tab.
3. For XLS and CSV file types, perform the following.
– Highlight File type.
– Press Advanced Button
– Select the Open action and press Edit.
– Uncheck the ‘Use DDE’ Checkbox.
– In the Text Box, ‘Application used to perform action’, Add “%1” to the end.
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE” /e
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE” /e “%1”
Windows 7 (Office 2007)
1. Open Excel. Open ‘Excel Options-Advanced’.
– In General Options, Check ‘Ignore Other Applications that use DDE’.
2. Update Registry.
– Run ‘regedit’. Press Start-Run, Type Regedit
– Update the following registry key’s
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/default: add [space]”%1″
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/command. add [space]”%1″
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/command. Rename KeyName from Command to Command_old
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/ddeexec. Rename Keyname ddeexec to ddeexec_old
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/default. Add [space]”%1″
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/command. Add [space]”%1″
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/command. Rename KeyName from Command to Command_old
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/ddeexec. Rename Keyname ddeexec to ddeexec_old
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\EXCEL.EXE” /e
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\EXCEL.EXE” /e “%1”
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View side by side
Previous versions of Excel have had an option for viewing two spreadsheets side-by-side. However, Excel 2013 now makes it easier by allowing you to snap each spreadsheet (opened in separate windows) to each side of the screen. There are four types of side by side view:
1. Tiled view
2. Horizontal view
3. Vertical view
4. Cascade view
Enabling vertical view
Simply drag one of the windows to the side of the screen until you see a circle briefly spread out from the cursor. The Excel window will snap to that side of the screen, taking up half the screen. Once you snap both windows to either side of the screen, your two spreadsheets will be displayed as shown in the image below.
You can also use the View Side by Side option, which is still available on the View tab in the Window section.
By default, the View Side by Side option displays the two spreadsheet windows horizontally. To change the view, click Arrange All in the Window section of the View tab.
The Arrange Windows dialog box displays. Select Vertical to view the windows side by side, as you did when you snapped them to the sides of the screen.
Tiled does the same thing as Vertical when there are two spreadsheet windows open. If you have more than two spreadsheets open, Tiled will arrange them as tiles on the screen some horizontally, some vertically, depending on how many are open.
Enabling Tiled view
With the above mentioned process we can enable tiled view for our opened spreadsheets.
Enabling cascade view
Cascade displays the spreadsheet windows with the title bars cascaded down the screen. With the above mentioned process we can enable tiled view for our opened spreadsheets.
Enabling horizontal view
With the above mentioned process we can enable tiled view for our opened spreadsheets.
Activate synchronous scrolling
If you want to scroll through both (or all) spreadsheets at the same time, you can turn on the Synchronous Scrolling option in the Window section of the View tab. This will allow you to scroll through both windows using the scroll bar on one of them.
SDI and MDI means
Each spreadsheet opening in its own window, like in Word and PowerPoint, is called Single Document Interface (SDI). That means that each spreadsheet has its own Ribbon and title bar so you can move the window around and resize it independently from your other open spreadsheets. Previous releases of Excel used the Multiple Document Interface (MDI), in which all spreadsheet windows opened under a top-level, “master” container window.
The SDI now used in Excel 2013 makes it easier to compare multiple spreadsheets side by side.
You can quickly compare two worksheets in the same workbook or in different workbooks by viewing them side by side. You can also arrange multiple worksheets to view them all at the same time.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click New Window.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click View Side by Side .
In each workbook window, click the sheet that you want to compare.
To scroll both worksheets at the same time, click Synchronous Scrolling in the Window group on the View tab.
Note: This option is available only when View Side by Side is turned on.
If you resize the workbook windows for optimal viewing, you can click Reset Window Position to return to the original settings.
To restore a workbook window to full size, click Maximize at the upper-right corner of the workbook window.
Open both of the workbooks that contain the worksheets that you want to compare.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click View Side by Side .
If you have more than two workbooks open, Excel displays the Compare Side by Side dialog box. In this dialog box, under Compare Side by Side with, click the workbook that contains the worksheet that you want to compare with your active worksheet, and then click OK.
In each workbook window, click the sheet that you want to compare.
To scroll both worksheets at the same time, click Synchronous Scrolling in the Window group on the View tab.
Note: This option is available only when View Side by Side is turned on.
Beginning with Excel 2013, workbooks that you open in Excel are no longer displayed as multiple workbook windows inside a single Excel window. Instead, they are shown as separate Excel windows. Because workbooks don’t share the same Excel window, they are displayed with their own ribbon, and you can view the open workbooks on different monitors.
If you resize the workbook windows for optimal viewing, you can click Reset Window Position to return to the original settings.
To restore a workbook window to full size, click Maximize at the upper-right corner of the workbook window.
Open one or more workbooks that contain the worksheets that you want to view at the same time.
Do one of the following:
If the worksheets that you want to view are in the same workbook, do the following:
Click a worksheet that you want to view.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click New Window.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each sheet that you want to view.
If the worksheets that you want to view are in different workbooks, continue with step 3.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Arrange All.
Under Arrange, click the option that you want.
If the sheets that you want to view are all located in the active workbook, select the Windows of active workbook check box.
Tip: To restore a workbook window to full size, click Maximize at the upper-right corner of the workbook window.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click New Window.
In each workbook window, click the sheet that you want to compare.
Need more help?
You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.
The sheets can be in the same workbook or in different workbooks.
First, make sure that the two sheets are displayed in separate windows. If you want to compare two sheets in the same workbook, use the Window -> New Window command to create a new window for the active workbook. Activate the first window; then choose Window -> Compare Side by Side With. If more than two windows are open, you’ll see a dialog box that lets you select the window for the comparison.
The two windows will be tiled horizontally, not really “side by side.” If you prefer a true side-by-side arrangement, select Window -> Arrange, and select Vertical in the Arrange Windows dialog box.
When using the Compare Side by Side feature, you’ll find that scrolling in one of the windows also scrolls the other window. When you use this command, the Compare Side by Side toolbar is displayed. This toolbar contains the following buttons:
- Synchronous Scrolling: Toggles automatic windows scrolling on and off.
- Reset Window Position: If you have rearranged or moved the windows, clicking this button puts them back in the initial horizontal arrangement.
- Close Side by Side: Breaks out of side-by-side mode and returns to the previous window positions. You can also use the Window -> Break Side by Side command for this.
Keep in mind that this feature is for manual comparison only. Unfortunately, Excel does not provide a way to show you the differences between two sheets.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to ask OfficeToolTips team.
Viewing a worksheet in multiple windows
Grouping and ungrouping sheets
How to protect spreadsheets
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If you’ve been considering an upgrade to Office 2013 from Office 2007 or Office 2010, there’s one feature definitely worthwhile: Excel 2013 now displays multiple open spreadsheets in their own window, which lets you view them side-by-side, snap them to either side of the screen, etc. You’d think the ability to easily compare workbooks side-by-side would have made it in to one of the eight major releases over the last 28 years.
Fortunately, with Excel 2013, there’s no need to fuss around in the View ribbon. Simply open two Excel spreadsheets and snap them to either side of the screen. Easy!
The View ribbon is still available, as is the View Side by Side option. To use it, open two spreadsheets, then click View –> View Side by Side.
By default, this will arrange your windows horizontally.
You may want to collapse the ribbon (CTRL + F1) to get a little bit more viewing space.
To arrange the windows differently, click Arrange All.
This will give you a few different options: Tiled, Horizontal, Vertical and Cascade.
While you’re here, also try Synchronous Scrolling. This synchronizes your windows scroll bar so you can scroll both of them at once. You must have View Side by Sideenabled for this to work.
Conclusion
This feature isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it is highly useful.
This Tech Tip is brought to you by the Business and Technology Section … IT solutions for today’s CPAs. For more information and to view an archive of previous Tech Tips, please visit us here.
