{"id":400183,"date":"2022-01-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T21:00:00","slug":"how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt\/","title":{"rendered":"#How (and Why) to Start Microsoft Excel from the Command Prompt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29798c7e542\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29798c7e542\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt\/#Launch_Excel_Using_Command_Prompt\" >Launch Excel Using Command Prompt<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt\/#Excel_Command_Line_Switches_and_Parameters\" >Excel Command Line Switches and Parameters<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#How (and Why) to Start Microsoft Excel from the Command Prompt&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<!-- UNCACHED CONTENT --><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage alignnone size-full wp-image-731027\" data-pagespeed-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MS-excel-logo-675.png?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MS-excel-logo-675.png?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MS-excel-logo-675.png?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Microsoft Excel Logo\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You can open Microsoft Excel from the Command Prompt, and you can also add additional parameters to the command to do things like open Excel with a specific template, or launch Excel in Safe Mode for troubleshooting.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Launch_Excel_Using_Command_Prompt\"><\/span>Launch Excel Using Command Prompt<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There are many ways to start Excel using Command Prompt, but if you want to launch Excel in its normal state (that is, the same way that Excel launches when you click the shortcut), then there are two different ways to do that.<\/p>\n<p>First, there\u2019s the simple way.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/235101\/10-ways-to-open-the-command-prompt-in-windows-10\/\">Open Command Prompt\u00a0by typing \u201ccmd\u201d in the Windows Search bar and clicking the Command Prompt app from the search results.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-740308 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Type-cmd-in-the-Windows-Search-bar-and-click-Command-Prompt..png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Type &quot;cmd&quot; in the Windows Search bar and click Command Prompt.\" width=\"429\" height=\"364\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Command Prompt will open. To launch Excel, type this command and press Enter:<\/p>\n<pre>start excel<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-740312\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Type-start-excel-in-Command-Prompt.-1.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Type &quot;start excel&quot; in Command Prompt.\" width=\"393\" height=\"204\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Excel should launch im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely.<\/p>\n<p>Another way to open Excel is by locating the directory that holds the excel.exe file, changing to that directory in Command Prompt, and then running a simple command.<\/p>\n<p>To locate the excel.exe file, you\u2019ll need to be in the Program Files directory in Command Prompt. You can\u00a0use the <code>cd<\/code>\u00a0command to change the directory. Type this command in Command Prompt, and then press Enter:<\/p>\n<pre>cd\\\"program files\"<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-740314\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Change-to-the-Program-Files-directory-in-Command-Prompt..png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Change to the &quot;Program Files&quot; directory in Command Prompt.\" width=\"394\" height=\"166\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll now be in the Program Files directory. Next, you need to find out in which directory the excel.exe file is located. To do so, run this command:<\/p>\n<pre>dir excel.exe \/s<\/pre>\n<p>The directory of the excel.exe file will be returned.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-740316\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-directory-of-Excel..png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The directory of Excel returned in Command Prompt.\" width=\"525\" height=\"245\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Now that you know the directory where excel.exe is located, navigate to that directory. Since we\u2019re already in the Program Files directory, we can omit that from the next command. In our example, we\u2019d run this command:<\/p>\n<pre>cd Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-740317\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Change-to-the-directory-that-contains-the-excel-file..png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Change to the directory that contains the excel file.\" width=\"468\" height=\"171\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Now that you\u2019re in the correct directory, all that\u2019s left to do is to type <code>excel<\/code>\u00a0in Command Prompt and press Enter.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-740319\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Type-excel-in-Command-Prompt..png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Type &quot;excel&quot; in Command Prompt.\" width=\"497\" height=\"207\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Excel will now open. However, the main purpose of launching Excel from Command Prompt is so that you can control\u00a0<em>how<\/em> it opens, and you do that by <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ending the various switches and parameters that are available to the command.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Excel_Command_Line_Switches_and_Parameters\"><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" name=\"moka_anchor_ExcelCommandLineSwitchesandParameters\">Excel Command Line Switches and Parameters<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of command switches provided by the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/command-line-switches-for-microsoft-office-products-079164cd-4ef5-4178-b235-441737deb3a6#ID0EAABAAA=Excel\">official Microsoft Office support site<\/a>. Add these to the end of the <code>start excel<\/code>\u00a0command in Command Prompt.<\/p>\n<table role=\"presentation\" style=\"width: 100%;\" border=\"1\">\n<tbody>\n<tr bgcolor=\"FFDEAD\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><strong>Switch and Parameter<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><strong>Description<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"312\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>workbook path<\/em> | <em>file name<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">No switch is required.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"312\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Opens the target file.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">Example:<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \u201cc:\\Example Folder\\file_name1.xlsx\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">or<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel http:\/\/MySite\/file_name1.xlsx<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><strong>\/r<\/strong> <em>workbook path<\/em> | <em>file name<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"312\">\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Opens the target workbook as read-only.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">Example:<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \/r \u201cc:\\Example Folder\\file_name1.xlsx\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">or<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \/r http:\/\/MySite\/file_name1.xlsx<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/t\u00a0<\/b><i class=\"ocpItalic\">workbook path<\/i>\u00a0|\u00a0<i class=\"ocpItalic\">file name<\/i><br \/>\nYou can also use\u00a0<strong>\/n<\/strong> instead of\u00a0<strong>\/t<\/strong> to achieve the same result.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Opens the target file as a template.<br \/>\n<b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">Example:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \/t \u201cc:\\Example Folder\\file_name1.xlsx\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>or<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \/t http:\/\/MySite\/file_name1.xlsx<\/span><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/e<\/b>\u00a0or\u00a0<b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/embed<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Prevents the Excel startup screen from appearing and a new blank workbook from opening.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/s<\/b>\u00a0or\u00a0<b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/safemode<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Starts Excel in Safe Mode.\u00a0This launches Excel without any additional add-ins, templates, or other customizations. It\u2019s helpful when troubleshooting problems in Excel.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/m<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Creates a new workbook that contains a single XLM macro sheet.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/a\u00a0<\/b><i class=\"ocpItalic\">progID<\/i><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Loads the Automation add-in specified by the progID of the add-in.<br \/>\n<b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">Example:<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><em><span class=\"ocpCodeInline\">start excel \/a MyProgId.MyProgID2.1<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\"><b class=\"ocpLegacyBold\">\/x<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"312\">Starts a separate process of Excel.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Using these commands, you can open Excel in a number of different ways.<\/p>\n<p>Excel isn\u2019t the only Office program that you can open with Command Prompt\u2014you can also use it to launch Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. The commands can differ between applications, so explore which options are available for each one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/740291\/how-and-why-to-start-microsoft-excel-from-the-command-prompt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#How (and Why) to Start Microsoft Excel from the Command Prompt&#8221; You can open Microsoft Excel from the Command Prompt, and you can also add additional parameters to the command to do things like open Excel with a specific template, or launch Excel in Safe Mode for troubleshooting. Launch Excel Using Command Prompt There are&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MS-excel-logo-675.png?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}