Question : MS Excel 2007 Opens 2 Windows Every Time I Open File From Shortcut.  How do I Fix?

Not sure how to fix this.  have seen issue online but could not find solution.

I am using MS 2007 (Have Office 2007 SB) on a Vista 64-bit OS.  I was using the trial version but then bought a copy when the trial expired.  Every time I open an excel file from a shortcut, when excel is not already open, it opens MS Excel with a blank window and then a second window with my file that says (compatability mode).  I don't know why this happens or how to fix it.  It doesn't matter if I'm opening older Excel files or ones that I created on my laptop with Excel 2007.  Same issue.

Thanks.

Answer : MS Excel 2007 Opens 2 Windows Every Time I Open File From Shortcut.  How do I Fix?

I got this from (and there is more there you can read): http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2006/08/10/694606.aspx

Compatibility Mode

Compatibility Mode is a setting for each workbook designed to prevent incompatible features in Excel 2007 from being saved to a file destined for use with a prior version of Excel.

For example, versions of Excel prior to Excel 2007 can support at most 65,536 rows in a worksheet. If an Excel 2007 user creates a worksheet with 100,000 rows of data, prior versions of Excel must truncate rows beyond 65,536 when opening the file. To minimize disruption to users when collaborating between versions of Excel, incompatible features in Excel 2007 are disabled while Excel 2007 is running in compatibility mode.  

When is Compatibility Mode On?

To simplify how people work with workbooks, we have tied Compatibility Mode to the Excel 97-2003 file format.  Whenever a file in this format is opened, the workbook will be in Compatibility Mode.  Also, when you save a new file to the Excel 97-2003 format, the next time it is opened the workbook will be in Compatibility Mode.

To exit Compatibility Mode for the workbook you save the file to one of the new file formats and re-open the workbook.  This can be accomplished in one step using the Convert command.
 

AND

here is a snippit from (there is also more there): http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/2f7456c2-67e6-4948-9e76-81fce661210e1033.mspx?mfr=true

Users can also convert a document from compatibility mode to full functionality. By selecting Convert from the Office Start Button, users can convert the document to the 2007 Office release, and add content using the new features available in the 2007 Office release

Maybe this will help...
:-)
Albert