how can I hide an Excel Workbook?

[Ziccozzis]

Hi Everyone...

I've been using ActiveX with excel files and I have a problem trying to hide a Workbook on the "windows taskbar".
I can hide excel application and worksheets too... but I can't hide a workbook.

Example... I want work with 3 excel Workbooks (files):
Workbook 1: Materials.
Workbook 2: Measurements (hide this file on the windows taskbar)
Workbook 3: Costs.

WB 1 and 3: Visible (normally with excel application)
WB 2 NOT VISIBLE to the user. How can I do that???

Thank you...

[Kenny_K]

what you can do to hide it is use the ActiveWindow property, and set it to false (see attached picture).  You may see a "blip", as you will have to acivate the workbook and then hide it, but it should work.

Normally, if I don't know how to do something with Excel and activeX, I record a macro and follow the code in the Macro Editor.




Message Edited by Kenny K on 01-25-2008 03:55 PM

[Ziccozzis]

Hi...

Kenny K... thank you!!!

I Could make some "experiments" and it works great !!!


Best Regards.

[FerdBurfle]

WOW!  Waaaaaay to difficult a response from that last guy.  No need to get involved with ActiveX or Macros.

Much easier answer:

Open each workbook by clicking open, select Workbook 1: Materials, press and hold the Ctrl key, select Workbook 2: Measurements and Workbook 3: Costs and release Ctrl.  Click Open to open all 3 workbooks.  You will only see 1 workbook at this time.

Next, Click Window and select Arrange.  Click Vertical and click OK.  The 3 workbooks are arranged vertically.  Click Window and select Workbook 2: Measurements to make it the active workbook.  Click Window and select Hide.  Your active window, Workbook 2: Measurements is now hidden from view. 

No need to get involved with all that coding!  Excel makes it EASY for you.  Using coding to hide a workbook is like using a nuclear bomb to kill that pesky rodent in your back yard!

[FerdBurfle]

The question that I have is WHY would you WANT to hide a workbook?

MY problem is that I am teaching users HOW to do it, I just don't have a practical example of WHY someone would NEED to hide a workbook...

[FerdBurfle]

And here I am over a year later, and no genius developers can provide an answer to WHY one would want to hide a workbook.  I looked it up on the Microsoft site, and THEY don't even say anything about WHY, just HOW.

I don't USE this feature of Excel, but I DO teach it...and yet, I can't seem to give an example of why you would want to do this, since I lack the practical experience...

Sad that in all the hundreds of views my previous responses have had, NO ONE seems to know why this would be a good thing...

...lots of developers wanting to do stuff, YET THEY DON'T KNOW WHY...it's rather sad.  Not even the great "Computer Prep", the book I train from, explains why you would want to hide a workbook (worksheets I understand why, just not workbooks...).

Perhaps I'll skip over that part of the curriculum - my audience is a bunch of office workers, and I'm at a loss as to tell them it's something important that they need to know...

[aeastet]

One reason that I hide and excel workbook is to make excel go faster. If I am drawing dozens of lines in a graph it take longer with excel open and visible than it does if it is closed. This is especially true in 2007. Making graphs in 2007 is so much slower than it was in 2003.

I might also hide my Ecel window while I am processing the data to keep from causing a sezure while everything is flashing back and forth while the data is being processed. In this case I would not show Excel until the data is done processing.

[Viru]

Hi Zicoozzis:

You can also hide the particular workbook using below image. Might be work for you.

Thanks

[FerdBurfle]

Viru, have you ever killed a mouse with a 10 megaton bomb?

Just wondering, Ferd

[FerdBurfle]

Ah!  Now THAT I can take back to my training session!

THANKS so much Aeastet!