excel issue with maximized close

Question

I am running Excel version 1701 build 7766.2099 on a Windows 10 pro system version 1607 build 14393.1593.

It took me awhile but I am finally able to replicate the issue without fail. 

If I close Excel when it is maximized, the next time i open Excel and try to either "restore down" with the button or grab the menu bar and drag it from being maximized the inner excel window is separated from an empty excel "shell" with much flashing of my monitor. If i then close excel (less than maximized) and reopen it I can maximize, minimize or restore down without issue. BUT i must close excel at less than maximized every time or the issue returns. 

It appears that a child window is being extracted from the parent window...before i get flamed, I know there is no MDI since excel 2013 but that is exactly how it reacts except that the parent window is unable to be moved in this case. If i open multiple workbooks they all open separately, as they should, but if the last workbook to be closed is maximized i get the issue on the next opening of excel.

I have tried repair and uninstall/install of excel but am hesitant to remove office and reinstall completely. I have done quite a bit of searching on the internet and haven't found a single person with my exact problem. 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Answer 1

Hi David,

Based on your description, when you close Excel with maximized window size, next time when opening Excel, the issue happens.

You may try the following steps:

1.Start Excel in safe mode.

Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner) in Windows, and click Run>Alternatively, you can press the Windows logo key and the R key on your keyboard.>in the Run box, type excel /safe , click OK

2.If the issue persists in safe mode,  try to perform a clean boot in Windows.

If above doesn't help, please provide the following information for troubleshooting:

1.Does the issue happen to a specific workbook? Create a new workbook, save and close it with maximized window size, reopen it and check if the issue persists.

2.Regarding " the next time i open Excel and try to either "restore down" with the button or grab the menu bar and drag it from being maximized "

Did you reopen Excel by click the Excel icon in the taskbar on the bottom or in the desktop shortcut?

3.For "the inner excel window is separated from an empty excel "shell" with much flashing of my monitor." Please provide related screenshots to describe it.

4.Also, please provide a related screenshot of "It appears that a child window is being extracted from the parent window..."

5.Does the issue happen to a specific computer? Use another computer and check if the issue persists.

Do other people in your company have the same issue?

Regards,

Tina

Answer 2

see embedded responses in bold type:

Hi David,

Based on your description, when you close Excel with maximized window size, next time when opening Excel, the issue happens.

You may try the following steps:

1.Start Excel in safe mode.

Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner) in Windows, and click Run>Alternatively, you can press the Windows logo key and the R key on your keyboard.>in the Run box, type excel /safe , click OK

 Issue persists

2.If the issue persists in safe mode,  try to perform a clean boot in Windows.

 Issue persists

If above doesn't help, please provide the following information for troubleshooting:

1.Does the issue happen to a specific workbook? Create a new workbook, save and close it with maximized window size, reopen it and check if the issue persists.

This happens with any workbook. To verify, I opened Excel, created new and saved it to desktop. I closed the first instance of Excel, maximized the new workbook “Book2.xlsx”, saved it to desktop then closed it. I then double clicked it and it opened maximized. When I attempted to restore down the issue persists.

2.Regarding " the next time i open Excel and try to either "restore down" with the button or grab the menu bar and drag it from being maximized "

Did you reopen Excel by click the Excel icon in the taskbar on the bottom or in the desktop shortcut?

The issue is there under any of the following startup options.  I have reopened Excel by double click on workbook from desktop, server or “C:” drive. I have also attempted by opening with taskbar and from start menu. Even when I used the windows+R: excel /safe.

3.For "the inner excel window is separated from an empty excel "shell" with much flashing of my monitor." Please provide related screenshots to describe it.

Unable to catch the flashing without doing a video capture. I can do so if you would like but the end result is shown in the attached screenshots.

4.Also, please provide a related screenshot of "It appears that a child window is being extracted from the parent window..."

Attached are two screenshots of the “inner window” removed from the shell.

5.Does the issue happen to a specific computer? Use another computer and check if the issue persists.

Do other people in your company have the same issue?

I have asked around and no one else at my company has this issue. There is one other employee with the exact same computer setup as me and his does not exhibit this issue.

Regards,

Tina

Answer 3

Hi David,

Thanks for the detailed information.

We suggest you try to repair Office, then restart Windows, then check if the issue persists.

If the issue persists, try to reinstall Office.

1.Use easy fix tool to completely uninstall Office.

2.Then go to Office 365 software page to reinstall Office.

Note:

If we reinstall Office, we need to re-setup accounts to the new installed Outlook. For your reference: Outlook email setup .

While, before uninstalling Office, we can backup Outlook email, contacts and calendar by exporting to a pst file. Only information for one account can be exported information at a time.

You can find detailed information in these articles:

Export or backup email, contacts, and calendar to an Outlook .pst file 

Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file 

Regards,

Tina

Answer 4

i completed the repair to no avail. i then backed up my outlook to a pst and used the easy fix tool. I restarted then logged into office 365 and chose the install office button. It was taking a long time so i left work for the evening and when i got in this morning there was a dialog box stating that the streaming install could not complete. It did install outlook, word and excel. and when i opened excel and created a new workbook it opened full screen and the original issue is still there. I am going to try to run the easy fix tool again and reinstall now. any other ideas would be appreciated.

Answer 5

note: i followed the manual uninstall after running the easy fix tool located here:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manually-uninstall-Office-4e2904ea-25c8-4544-99ee-17696bb3027b?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US