How to launch Excel file in SharePoint 365 as a separate instance by default

Question

Holding down the Alt key and double-clicking on an Excel file on SharePoint 365 brings up the prompt "Do you want to start a new instance of Excel?".

How do I setup SharePoint or Excel so that it opens the Excel file in a new instance of Excel all the time without being prompted?

I tried :

1. setting the registry setting DisableMergeInstance in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Options
2. Adding the /x option in registry settings:
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command

The above only work when launching Excel from File Explorer. It doesn't work when launching the Excel file from SharePoint.

Answer 1

Hi @Mel Calucin
Sorry for this delay. The excel file in SharepPoint Online is related to Office Online (not Excel 2016), so setting the registry setting DisableMergeInstance in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Options could not work. I could only find an article to tell how to force Excel to open in a new instance by default on client instead of online.

Have you tried to open the excel file in SharePoint in the client application through library settings > Advanced settings:

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