Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 17, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Dan has several Excel workbooks he cannot open and several that he can. When he attempts to open the problem workbooks he is asked about updating links but he does not get any error messages. The open process seems to complete, but the workbook does not display. If he tries to open the workbook again, Excel tells him the file is already open. If he tries to close Excel, he is asked if he wants to save the workbook. Otherwise, there is no evidence that the workbook is open. Dan wonders how he can get around this.
There are two likely scenarios here. First, it could be that your worksheets are hidden. You can check this by following these steps:

Figure 1. The Unhide dialog box.
Second, it could be that the worksheet is actually visible, but simply off screen. You can check this by simply right-clicking on the task bar and selecting Cascade Windows from the resulting Context menu.
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