How to Open Visio Diagrams in Multiple Program Windows

Microsoft Visio is diagramming software which is non-integrated part of Microsoft Office productivity suite. Visio allows user to use vector graphics to create diverse diagrams. When opening Visio saved document file or create a new diagram, normally the document on the same instance of Visio program window. It means that one Visio program user interface will open and show multiple Visio diagrams.

It’s possible to instruct Microsoft Office Visio to open each Visio diagram in different instance of Visio program window. In other word, each and every Visio document, open from saved copy or newly created one, will be open in new Visio window, which has it own button in Windows Taskbar.

After enabling Visio document to open on new program window, user can switch between multiple documents by clicking on Visio buttons in Taskbar. By default, in order to view each document in Visio, user has to click on Windows drop-down menu on menu bar, and then switch between Visio documents.

To implement the new behavior, follow the following registry hack:

  1. Open Microsoft Visio.
  2. Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced.
  3. Check the Put all settings in Windows Registry option.
  4. Run Registry Editor (regedit).
  5. Navigate to the following registry key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Visio\Application\

  6. In the right pane, right click on SingleInstanceFileOpen, and then select Modify. Update the value of SingleInstanceFileOpen from 1 to 0.

6 Responses to “How to Open Visio Diagrams in Multiple Program Windows”

  1. User
    June 25th, 2009 02:01
    6

    No need to make any registry changes.

    Here is how you go about it:

    > Open your first file
    > Go to start menu and open Visio again – this should open a new window by default
    > You can verify this by going to task manager and you should see two instances of Visio.Exe process running
    > From the second window, use File > Open option to open your second file

  2. Ed
    June 20th, 2009 07:12
    5

    I stand corrected…somehow the “Singleinstance…” was reset to “1″. After changing to “0″ this worked as directed. Thank you!

  3. Ed
    June 20th, 2009 07:09
    4

    Same as Alex…does not work in Visio 2007.

  4. Alex
    June 13th, 2009 06:39
    3

    Doesn’t work in Visio 2007. Changing SingleInstanceFileOpen’ option does not do anything.

  5. Krishna
    January 21st, 2009 14:57
    2

    Sorry for the confusion.. I did not save the changes to the Options.. It works like a charm now

  6. Krishna
    January 21st, 2009 14:51
    1

    The ‘SingleInstanceFileOpen’ option is not avialable for me in the Registry. Please advise.

    Regards,
    Krishna

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Subscribe to comments feature has been disabled. To receive notification of latest comments posted, subscribe to My Digital Life Comments RSS feed or register to receive new comments in daily email digest.
Custom Search

New Articles

Incoming Search Terms for the Article

open visio files - view visio files without visio - Not able to open Visio files in IE - open multiple instances of visio - open visio in new window - open visio files without visio - open two instances of visio - how to open visio files without visio - open visio - visio 2007 multiple windows - visio multiple windows - how to open two visio documents in two windows - microsoft visio open documents in separate window - open visio in separate windows - all - how to open two instances of visio - not able to open visio file in ie - open visio file without visio - visio files in separete windows - how to open a visio file - open multiple instances visio 2003 - how to open 2 visio 2007 file in different windows - Open visio documents in seperate windows - visio multiple instances - not able to open visio files in explorer 6.0 - visio how to open in two separate windows - viso separate windows in taskbar - How to open two visio diagrams at the same time - i am not able to open visio file on IE8 - ie8 visio viewer - visio multiple instance - how to open two visio windows - visio open two windows - how to open visio file - open up two instances of visio - visio 2007 multiple in taskbar - how to open visio file without visio - multiple visio windows - opening visio documents in different windows - Opening multiple visio windows - open visio file - visio document will not open in IE - multiple app windows for visio - can you open 2 windows of the same office program - microsoft visio where is the program - not able to open visio on my machine - gps logger with schematics - how to open visio documents in seperate windows - open mulitple program windows visio 2003 - open visio in another instance -