>mmm... sounds interesting, how can i refers the Excel application using the GetObject() call?. Because one of the lacks of using createobject("excel.application") is that the objects remains in memory no matters the vfp variable has been released.

Sorry, I should have answered that in my original message. First, I recommend that rather than calling the variable you get back from GetObject oExcel (or oXL or whatever), you call it oWorksheet. Then, you can use the Worksheet's Application property to get a reference to Excel:

oWorksheet = GetObject("yourfile.XLS")
oExcel = oWorksheet.Application

Now you have variables to reference both the worksheet and the application. Just be sure to set both to .null. once you shut down Excel.

Tamar