Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Appearance of Excel on the Taskbar.

Appearance of Excel on the Taskbar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 26, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003


If you are using Excel 2000 (or later), you can control how Excel workbooks appear on your task bar. You can instruct Excel to display only a single task regardless of how many workbooks are open, or you can have it display one task for each workbook.

To specify how Excel utilizes the toolbar, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Set the Windows In Taskbar check box, in the upper-right corner of the dialog box, according to your preference.
  5. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3028) applies to Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Appearance of Excel on the Taskbar.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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