Microsoft KB Archive/288866

= How to prevent files from opening automatically in the startup folder in Excel 2002 =

Article ID: 288866

Article Last Modified on 9/8/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q288866





For a Microsoft Office 2003 version of this article, see 826922.

IN THIS TASK

 * SUMMARY


 * How to Prevent Excel from Opening Files


 * Remove Files from XLStart Folder and Alternate Startup Folders
 * Press the ESCAPE Key
 * Use Command-line Switches
 * Start Excel in Safe Mode
 * REFERENCES



SUMMARY
This step-by-step article describes how to prevent files from being opened automatically when you start Microsoft Excel.

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How to Prevent Excel from Opening Files
When you start Excel, all files that are in the XLStart folder are automatically opened. This occurs regardless of the type of file. In addition, if you have specified an alternate startup folder for Excel (on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab), every file in that folder is also opened automatically. This behavior may cause Excel to stop responding or to take a very long time to start if either of the following conditions are true:
 * The files in either location are not valid Excel files.
 * The files are stored on a network with a slow network connection.

Use any of the following three methods to prevent files in these locations from opening when you start Excel.

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Remove Files from XLStart Folder and Alternate Startup Folders
To remove files from the XLStart folder and the alternate startup folders, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start Excel.
 * 2) On the Tools menu, click Options.
 * 3) Click the General tab.
 * 4) Note the folder that is listed in the At startup, open all files in box.

NOTE: If you do not want to open any files at startup, delete the contents of this box.
 * 1) Click OK.
 * 2) Quit Excel.
 * 3) Start Microsoft Windows Explorer or double-click My Computer on the desktop.
 * 4) Browse to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\XLStart
 * 1) Select any files that you do not want to open when Excel starts.
 * 2) Move the files to another folder.
 * 3) Browse to the folder that you noted in step 4.
 * 4) Select any files that you do not want to automatically open when Excel starts.
 * 5) Move the files to another folder.

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Press the ESCAPE Key
When you start Excel, any files that are located in the XLStart folder or the alternate startup folder begin to open. You can press ESCAPE after the files start to open to prevent any additional files from opening.

When you press ESCAPE, you may receive one or both of the following messages:

Would you like to cancel opening all files from your Alternate Startup File Location?

-or-

Would you like to cancel opening all files from your XLStart Location?

If you click Yes in response to either message, Excel starts without opening any additional files from the startup locations.

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Use Command-line Switches
If there are files in the XLStart folder or the alternate startup folder that you do not want to open when Excel starts, yet you do not want to move the files to a different folder, you can use command-line switches to prevent the files from opening. Both the /safe switch (which starts Excel in Safe mode) and the /automation switch (which disables all automatically opened files and auto-run macros) can be used for this purpose.

To use a command-line switch to start Excel, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click Run.
 * 2) In the Open box, type either of the following:


 * 1) * Excel.exe /safe

-or-
 * 1) * Excel.exe /automation
 * 2) Click OK.

NOTE: If Windows Installer starts when you use one of these command-lines switches, click Cancel to finish starting Excel. back to the top

Start Excel in Safe Mode
To start Excel in Safe Mode, hold down the CTRL key while you start Excel. You will be prompted with the message &quot;Excel has detected that you are holding down the CTRL key. Do you want to start Excel in Safe Mode?&quot; Click Yes. When you start Excel in Safe Mode, no startup files are loaded. Additionally, no add-ins and no Excel customizations are loaded. (For example, no toolbar customizations are loaded).