5 Instant Fixes To Solve Excel Reopens After Closing Issue

Annoyed with the frequent reopening of Excel application after closing? No need to tolerate this anymore…! As there are few simple fixes to easily get rid of this Excel workbook keeps reopening issue.

Moreover, this article is written with the main perspective of providing a solution on how to prevent files from opening automatically in Excel 2016. So, don’t go anywhere for the fixes just scroll down this post and learn easy ways to troubleshoot Excel 2016 reopens after closing issue.

How To Prevent Files From Automatically Opening In Excel?

Try one of the following methods to prevent Excel 2016 reopens after closing.

Method 1: Stop A Specific Workbook From Opening When You Start Excel

Excel workbook keeps reopening usually seen when any user starts their Excel application. Entire files present within the XLStart folder gets automatically opened.

Well, this Excel restarts after closing issue is not specific for any particular file type.

Apart from this, the Excel workbook keeps reopening issues also get encountered if you specify an alternative startup folder for Excel. Similarly in this case also, the entire file present within the folder automatically gets opened. So, to fix the Excel workbook that keeps reopening issue you need to remove an alternative startup folder:

1. Choose the File option from the menu and then hit on the Options.
2. Select the Advanced tab option and then choose the General
3. Uncheck the box having the statement “At startup, open all files in”.

Your Excel application stops responding or will take more time to start if any of these conditions get true:

• The files in either startup folder aren’t valid Excel workbooks or worksheets.
• The files are stored on a network drive that has a slow network connection.

Method 2: Remove Files From Alternative Startup Folders And Xlstart Folder

Steps to remove files within alternative startup folders and XLStart folder:

1. Go to the Start option on your PC, and after then choose the Run option.
2. In the opened box, you need to type one of the following options and hit the Enter button from your keyboard.

• For Office365 or 2019 64 bit:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\xx\XLSTART

Where “xx” represents the version that you are using (for example, Office15, Office14, etc.).

• For Office365 or 2019 32 bit:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\xx\XLSTART

3. You can also give it a try of the following:
   • %appdata%\Microsoft\excel\XLSTART
   • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\excel\XLSTART
4. Either you can delete all the files present in the XLStart folder or just shift them into another folder.
5. Make a restart of your Excel application.

Method 3: Start Excel In Safe Mode

To temporarily fix the Excel restarts after closing issue you can start your Excel application in safe mode. As it’s a temporary method so you need to do this every time you start your Excel application.

Starting Excel application in safe mode mainly prevents the toolbar customizations, Excel add-ins, startup folders from being loaded when the Excel application starts.

Well, you can start Excel in safe mode in two different ways:  command-line switches and the CTRL-key.

1# Using the CTRL key

If you are opening Excel in safe mode through CTRL key. Then for this, you need to hold down the CTRL key when starting up your Excel application.

At that time you will get the following error message on your screen.

“Excel has detected that you are holding down the CTRL-key. Do you want to start Excel in Safe mode? Select Yes to start in safe mode.”

Once you get entry into the safe mode you can easily delete up your files from the startup location as mentioned above.

2# Use Command-line switches

In your entire Excel version, you can make use of a command-line switch for starting up your Excel in safe mode.

For this purpose, you can use both an automation switch and a safety switch.

Points to remember:

The /safe switch option will open your Excel application in safe mode. Whereas, the /automation switch disables all the auto-run macros and automatically opened files.

For using the command-line switch method to open Excel in safe mode. Follow the below-mentioned steps:

1. Go to the Start button on your PC, and then type Run in the search box.
2. In your open run box, you  can type any of the following lines but don’t put both of the following at once:

excel.exe /safe

excel.exe /automation

3. Choose the OK option.

 Note

If by using any of the above command-lines switches, MS Windows Installer gets started. Then just tap on the cancel option to stop starting the Excel application.

Method 4: Press The ESCAPE Key 

The third option is to fix unwanted files open automatically when Excel 2016 starts issue is by using ESCAPE key.  It is also a temporary solution so you need to do it every time when you start your Excel.

While pressing the escape key after opening up your Excel application will prevent Excel from opening any additional files.

By making use of this method, the user may encounter any of the following warning messages:

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

If you tap the YES option in any of the above messages then your excel application will get started without opening any additional file.

Method 5: Prevent Automatic Running Macros When You Start Excel

There are such Automatic macros in Excel as Auto_Open which gets recorded in your workbook. So, when you start your excel application it will automatically run itself.

• For stopping the automatic running of macros you need to just hold on to the SHIFT option at the time of starting your Excel application.

Alternative Option: Run The Excel Repair Tool

Sometimes it is also seen that frequent opening of the Excel workbook occurs due to corruption issues in your Excel worksheet. And as the manual methods are time consuming and technical, it won’t cover more if you are not excellent in computer. So to solve your Excel related issue it is recommended to use the MS Excel Repair Tool to fix the Excel errors.

This software is well efficient to fix all types of Excel errors, and corruption issues in Excel workbooks. You can also retrieve deleted Excel data. It is quite easy to operate and both Windows, as well as Mac OS users, can use it. This software supports almost all the Excel version.

Download       Buy Now

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

Steps to Utilize Excel Recovery Tool:

Wrap Up:

Trying the above fixes will surely resolve Excel workbook reopening issue. Don’t neglect this Excel restart after closing the issue very casually as it may put your precious Excel workbook into big trouble.