Double-clicking opens a new instance of Maya

[Anonymous]

In Windows 10 when I double click a Maya 2018 file another instance of the software opens. Can it be set so it will open the file in the instance that is already open?

[jill.ramsay]

Sorry, no. Maya can only open one file per instance.

[Anonymous]

A bit more detail on what I was hoping would happen. On my Mac when I have a Maya file open and I double click on another in the Finder Maya will try to open it in the already running instance and ask if I want to save changes. After I reply "save" or "no", it will close that file and open the newly double-clicked file. That is the behavior I am wanting in Windows. I use Autodesk Inventor as well, and it does the same thing in Windows even though it can have multiple files open in one instance.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried drag and drop in Windows? Unfortunately, the way Windows and MacOS handle application instances of Maya by default differ. MacOS won’t allow you to have multiple instances (again, by default) so you get the replace file behavior. Windows does so it opens another instance. Im not sure what an end user would have to modify in order to restrict Maya to one instance (if it’s possible).

Cheers,
Mike

[Anonymous]

Did you get a solution for this? 

[sstudyvin001 · Accepted solution]

I stumbled across this thread and thought I'd share my thoughts on the topic. Instead of double-clicking a scene file to open, it's best to open the file using the File > Open window.

I always caution anyone using Maya never to open multiple instances of Maya at the same time. This can, and often will, lead to a disaster. Maya is not intended to work this way. Even though on a Windows PC you can double-click scene files and open up multiple scene files at the same time, and the Mac will not, Maya will be fighting for resources in the background.

This has caused many files to be corrupted and unusable. You might feel it safe to do so, but my strongly worded advice is to not do this at all. Work on one scene file at a time.