HMMMM. good question. I did check the file while my application was running and manually it did say that it was "Read only", where I clicked OK. This excel sheet is being created by the application in question, I just want the user to be able to look at the current results. I do close the Excel file in code before I try to open it, but maybe it is still locked. There must be a way to see a new file during the running of the application???? maybe I expect tooo much.