>Are you suggesting something like this:
>
>

>for i = 1 to lnNumberOfFiles
>
>   if mod(1,100) = 1
>     FireUpExcel()
>  endif
>
>   loWorkbook = _screen.oStuff.oExcel.Workbooks.OPEN(tcFile, tlUpdateLinks)
>
>   Code...
>   Code...
>
>   loWorkBook.CLOSE(tlSavetheFile)
>
>next
>
>return
>
>function FireUpExcel()
>
>if ExcelisActive()
>  _screen.oStuff.oExcel.QUIT()
>  _screen.oStuff.oExcel = NULL
>endif
>
>SET MESSAGE TO 'Activating Excel...'
>_screen.oStuff.oExcel = CREATEOBJECT("Excel.application")
>_screen.oStuff.oExcel.VISIBLE = .F.
>
>return .t.
>

>
>>You're saying it chokes after ~160 files, so to play if safe I'd say try 100 files at once.
>>

Yes, this sounds like a good approach to try. We may also want to add some memory stuff here, check sys(1016) in Help.