Stop automatically maximizing all minimized documents whenever a new one is opened.
Stop automatically maximizing all minimized documents (and workbooks in Excel) whenever a new document is opened. This is unnecessary since the Task View and other options allow one to see more than one document at a time. When all minimized documents pop back up whenever a new one is opened, we just have to re-minimize them again. It's a nuisance.

Thanks for your feedback! This is an area we are currently investigating and will consider this feedback as we make a decision.
140 comments
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Anonymous commented
I agree, this is a horribly annoying feature, and considering the convenience of Google Docs, I will end up using that as my primary if basic functionality can't be controlled in MS Word.
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Giuseppe commented
If it will not be resolved quickly, I will be forced to use another product of the competition!!!
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Giuseppe commented
It is absurd that for a real problem Microsft has not paid attention to solve it.
This business logic is incomprehensible!!!!! -
Patrick commented
Also, and I assume this is a connected to this issue, is that you cannot get an Excel workbook to re-open in the last configuration (e.g., same size). I have specific desktop size configurations that I use for specific workbooks, but every workbook opens to whatever size the most recent one that was opened was sized to. Argh!!
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Ernie commented
Hey Microsoft 'Word Product Team'! How about finishing with the investigation and work on the FIX!
The feedback for the last two years is absolutely correct about how annoying and non-productive this issue remains. By the way, just go ahead and fix the equally stupid problem stated before about format change when pasting within the same document.
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Anonymous commented
This was posted in Feb. 2016 and MS decided to 'review' it 1 year and 5 months later - now here we are 1 full year after the 'review' started and we know no more than we did in Feb. 2016 (probably was actually reported much much earlier in a different official forum).
Are there any registry hacks? I tried the tricks suggested but they are not all that useful. I just need to be able to open a new document with out all the minimized ones also popping up.
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Ro commented
Good to hear I am not the only one seriously teed of with this issue. Just a show of corporate too big to fix actual issues for customers and complete lack of care. Goes along with the changing formatting to something different when pasting from with in the same **** document, WTF Microsoft?
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Anonymous commented
You are "investigating"... aka doing nothing. Well done.
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Igor commented
Hi, everybody. There is a solution.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/6hf3ec/is_there_any_way_to_prevent_automatically/ -
Merry commented
So, yeah, I just upgraded to Windows 2016 and it's STILL doing this incredibly annoying thing! I read one of the comments below that pointed out how it's also potentially dangerous because it can reveal sensitive data to onlookers. I'm disappointed to find that I'm not finding a fix to my issue today, but so much more disappointed that this has been brought to Microsoft's attention YEARS ago and still isn't fixed. There is no good reason for this to happen in the first place, let alone continue as a bug for this long.
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Anonymous commented
STOP DOING THIS, DONT Maximize OTHER DOCUMENTS
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Anonymous commented
Has this been addressed yet! This is one of the most annoying things I've encountered with Excel and I am a HUGE excel advocate and lover!
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Anonymous commented
Agreed! This is one extremely annoying feature that wastes so much of my time when I am grading papers.
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Anonymous Pages User commented
Yes, it is totally unnecessary and very annoying that Word does this. I have no idea why they set it up to do this. Microsoft's response was posted more than a year ago now! "We are currently investigating" Holy shit...that needs an investigation for a year?? Does somebody need a new job?
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Anonymous commented
This bug was introduced way back in the early Windows 7 era. One can find forum posts about it that date back to 2009. Seriously, I'm currently looking at a Superuser post complaining about it from August 2009.
It amazes me that such a highly visible, annoying, and productivity-hampering bug has persisted so long.
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Anonymous commented
The response from Microsoft on their site for this Excel 2016 bug was to submit this as "Windows Feedback" under Cortana, after they repeatedly said they couldn't replicate it and people should reinstall (which received several replies indicating that was horse shit and it is reproducible under any circumstances). What a joke. Anyone who uses Excel knows about this bug. It's not new, and shouldn't still exist.
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Fixit Already commented
Our shop just "downgraded" to Office 365 -- There is no excuse for this sort of bug to go unfixed for years. At work I have few choices, but I'm making different ones at home for myself and for friends and family.
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Amazon, Google, Apple commented
Dear Word Product Team - We just want to send you a thumbs up thank you for making your customers re-minimize files every time they open a new one. For years now, one click at a time you're driving them into our arms. Keep up the good work!
Fondly
Amazon , Google and Apple
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Anonymous commented
This bug costs me productivity. If I have to re-minimize every Word window every time I open a new one, then by the end of the day (every day) I may have spent as much as an hour just fixing Microsoft's mistakes. Where should I send the bill for my time?
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Anonymous commented
Yes, it is a real nuisance and productivity time waster