Alt Tab Not Working in Excel when Multiple Books Open

[VillaLion]

Good morning,

This problem unfortunately doesn't seem to be uncommon on the internet, however to date I can't find a resolution... only frustrating workarounds.

I nearly always have multiple applications open on my laptop and use alt-tab to switch between them efficiently and convieniently. However, if I have more than one Excel workbook open the first time I press Alt-Tab it doesn't change applications. It simply stays on the workbook that I'm currently on. If I press Alt-Tab twice I get the behaviour that I should experience when pressing Alt-Tab only the once.

If I am in an application other than Excel then the behaviour works as expected. This experience only happens once I'm in Excel.

Very strangely if I press Alt-Shift-Tab to go backwards amoungst tabs then it works perfectly fine. It only happens when scrolling forward.

I can use Ctrl-Tab to navigate between workbooks in Excel though this doesn't accomodate getting around different applications.

I have "Show all windows in the taskbar" option ticked within settings in Excel - if I untick this option I can navigate around applications as expected, however I then can't navigate around multiple workbooks using the Alt-Tab method.

If I only have one workbook open then Alt-Tab works as expected.

I have uninstalled Excel 2013 and installed Excel 2010 to see if that made a difference. It didn't.

I suspect the issue may lie within Windows though can not be certain.

I'm currently using Excel 2010 in Windows 2010.

This issue is driving me crazy... anyone who manages to help me solve this will have an eternity of good energy sent their way from me.

Rgds,
VL.

 

[mole999]

Excel is only one application, though your having multiple instances, I'm sure that if you open Word three times, it would be the same (untested). None of which helps resolve your issue.

 

[VillaLion]

Hi,

I forgot to add that I did test this with multiple instances of Word open and the behaviour was NOT reproduced. It worked as expected.

My home laptop is the only computer out of 5 which I use that experiences this bahaviour.

Cheers,
VL.

 

[VillaLion]

Morning all,

I've managed to solve this issue by editing the Windows registry to recreate the old pre-Windows 10 alt tab dialog. I thought I'd post the solution here in case any other poor souls who have the same issue as me stumble across this thread.

I presume this solution will only work in Windows 10:

How to get old Alt Tab dialog in Windows 10

Rgds,
VL.

 

[MSUGOGRN]

Morning all,

I've managed to solve this issue by editing the Windows registry to recreate the old pre-Windows 10 alt tab dialog. I thought I'd post the solution here in case any other poor souls who have the same issue as me stumble across this thread.

I presume this solution will only work in Windows 10:

How to get old Alt Tab dialog in Windows 10

Rgds,
VL.

I just created an account to thank you for this post. You had the same problem I have been having for far too long. My IT department had no idea how to fix it so I finally grew tired and searched the internet. This worked perfectly. Thanks again!

 

[sabla]

Hi all,

I've just and finally installed Office 2016, and found the same problem immediately
Solved it not by editing regedit, but just right clicking on start menu button in windows. Then clicking on properties, and choosing taskbar tab. In taskbar buttons field choose for windows to never combine.
This makes all the excel and other programs always present at the taskbar, but it works perfect for me cause I'm working with excel most of the time.
Cheers all