I have an Excel spreadsheet which is the front-end of a small app, with an Access 97 backend used as a data-store (don't ask the client wanted it this way!).

I am running a query in Excel (VBA) which executes a query within the database, like so:

Dim dbs As DAO.Database
Set dbs = DAO.OpenDatabase(AccessPath & AccessFile)

dbs.Execute ("APPEND_Data")

...but if I have another session of Excel open and run this via a button on the spreadsheet, it causes another instance of the same spreadsheet to open.

Any ideas?

Thks and Rgds
Jason

Your question is too short in words for me to grasp it.
Can you show me the code where VBA is Opening Excel file?
Is it opeing a read-Only version of the file which is already opened?
Or is it opening a new window which opens by Windows-add New windows
It appears that you are probably not using separate files approach.
One for data-query outputs and the other for holding macros