>the task manager shows that Excel is still active! And the only way I can get rid of it is by cancelling the program and then it miraculously disappears!
>
>(I confirmed with the debugger that the catch is NOT activated after I _screen.oStuff.oExcel.QUIT(), so I assume that the statement executes)
>
>???

That's why I don't like automation of Office. Try to work things out with excel visible first.It's possible that there's still some dialog it's trying to show - perhaps a "are you sure". Try with .oExcel.quit(0) - the parameter, IIRC, would tell it not to ask any questions.