Hi Denise,

Well, this was why I mentioned what I did in my first post. After doing some reasearch, I must admit that I couldn't readily find a way to open the file via DDE. Much more direct, and easier IMHO, is to use the API to open the file and start Excel. Here's the code, straight from the command window of FPW 2.6a. Note that you've got to load Foxtools first.

* Register the API call
m.shellexec = RegFN('ShellExecute', 'I@C@C@C@CI', 'I', 'shell.dll')
* Get an Excel file
m.xlfile = GETFILE('XLS')
m.open = 'open'
m.args = ""
m.path = JustPath(m.xlfile)
* Call ShellExecute - Minimize Excel
m.result = CallFN(m.shellexec, 0, @open, @xlfile, @args, @path, 2)
? m.result && This should be greater than 32 if it works
m.topic = JustFName(m.xlfile) && Get the topic for DDE
m.channel = DDEInitiate("Excel", m.topic) && Establish a channel
? m.channel && This return 0 - Success!
= DDETerminate(m.channel)

Does this help?