An Excellent Arrangement
Q: Last year, my office upgraded to two monitors at each workspace. Having simultaneous full-screen views of two files is a vast improvement over split-screen windows. Is it possible to display a different tab from the same Excel worksheet on two monitors?
A: Yes, this can be accomplished. Start by displaying Excel across both monitors as follows: Click the Restore Down button in the upper-right corner of the Excel window. Hover the mouse over either the left or right edge of the Excel window until it becomes a double arrow and drag the edge of the Excel window across both monitors.
With Excel now spanning two monitors, display two views of the same workbook in Excel 2007 or 2010 by selecting New Window from the View menu, then select Arrange All, Tiled, OK, also from the View menu. In Excel 2003, select New Window from the Window menu, then select Arrange, Tiled, OK also from the Window menu. This will allow you to view multiple worksheets from the same workbook side by side on two monitors. In this situation, each window will scroll independently and best of all, according to reader Rick McNeil, updates entered into one window will automatically update the other windows. An example of multiple windows for the same workbook is shown here (click to open in a new window).
Note: This feature works well on monitors of the same size with the same resolution settings, but can yield unpredictable results if monitor size or resolution settings differ.
Hint: To ignore other workbooks you have open, and arrange the windows for your current workbook only, check the Windows of active workbook box in the Arrange Windows dialog box in Excel 2010 (shown above), or the Arrange All dialog box in Excel 2007.
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