Hi,

Please see this KB on related information:

#How to use Visual C# to automate a running instance of an Office program
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316126
<quote>
Whether a COM server is Single Use (Multiple Instances) or Multiuse (Single
Instance) might affect your decision to use GetActiveObject to get
reference to that server. Because potentially more than one instance of
Word, Excel, or Microsoft Access can be running, GetActiveObject on a
particular server may return an instance that you did not expect. The
instance that is first registered in the ROT is typically the instance that
is returned by GetActiveObject. If you want to get an Automation Reference
to a specific running instance of Word, Excel, or Microsoft Access, use
BindToMoniker with the name of the file that is opened in that instance.
</quote>

In summary, using GetActiveObject can only get you one instance; you will
need to know a file name before hand to use BindToMoniker to get a specific
instance.

Could you please tell me why you need to know all running instances of
excel? Thanks.



Sincerely,
Walter Wang (wawang (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Hi,

Please feel free to let me know if there's anything else I can help. Thanks.


Regards,
Walter Wang (wawang (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Hi jahrens,


Unfortunately it's not possible without knowing the document path first:

#How To Attach to a Running Instance of an Office Application
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238975/

<quote>
Theoretically, you can iterate the ROT for each individual instance, but
Office applications do not register themselves if another instance is
already in the ROT because the moniker for itself is always the same, and
cannot be distinguished. This means that you cannot attach to any instance
except for the first. However, because Office applications also register
their documents in the ROT, you can successfully attach to other instances
by iterating the ROT looking for a specific document, attaching to this
document, and then getting the Application object from this document.
</quote>


I think you could create a new excel instance and export data there, then
let the user to copy the worksheet to other existing excel instances if
needed.


Regards,
Walter Wang (wawang (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Hi jahrens,

Thanks for the update.

As the KB described, based on how Office currently uses the ROT and
moniker, I think your approach is the best one.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Have a nice day!


Regards,
Walter Wang (wawang (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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