Excel 2013 VBA: Change to the MDI interface of old
Background
In Excel 2010 and earlier versions the Excel app was an MDI (Multiple Document Interface) and so hosted multiple workbook windows in the one application window. In Excel 2013 this changed and each workbook appears to open in a new session of Excel - even if they 'share' functionality like custom Ribbons.
Question
Is there any way in an Excel 2013 window to show the ribbon & statusbar but minimise the workbook anymore ?
Explanation
The reason I ask is that I have a long standing complex Excel addin that basically cycles through multiple workbooks and while doing so minimises all workbook windows and shows a dialog (userform) that shows the processing's progress.
Now under Excel 2010 (and previous) this worked perfectly: while the addin was processing all windows were minimised and the progress bar was shown. Under 2013 however it is messy - in order to show the progress bar it re-shows the workbook underneath - there seems no way to separate the two.
When I show my progress form I could use 'Application.visible = False' but I would rather not do this as it leaves the user with no ribbon , no status bar, no application icon in the Windows taskbar and therefore no clear idea of what program is running.
Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.
In Excel 2010 and earlier versions the Excel app was an MDI (Multiple Document Interface) and so hosted multiple workbook windows in the one application window. In Excel 2013 this changed and each workbook appears to open in a new session of Excel - even if they 'share' functionality like custom Ribbons.
Question
Is there any way in an Excel 2013 window to show the ribbon & statusbar but minimise the workbook anymore ?
Explanation
The reason I ask is that I have a long standing complex Excel addin that basically cycles through multiple workbooks and while doing so minimises all workbook windows and shows a dialog (userform) that shows the processing's progress.
Now under Excel 2010 (and previous) this worked perfectly: while the addin was processing all windows were minimised and the progress bar was shown. Under 2013 however it is messy - in order to show the progress bar it re-shows the workbook underneath - there seems no way to separate the two.
When I show my progress form I could use 'Application.visible = False' but I would rather not do this as it leaves the user with no ribbon , no status bar, no application icon in the Windows taskbar and therefore no clear idea of what program is running.
Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.
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ASKER
That option only exists in 2010 ! That is not exactly what I want (unless it can be automated in VBA) but it is a start but sadly was removed from 2013 as shown in the snapshot and link below:
Microsoft documentation of Excel 2013 changes