Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files
In This Chapter
Creating a new workbook
Opening an existing workbook
Saving and closing workbooks
Sharing workbooks with people who use an older version of Excel
This chapter describes the operations that you perform with workbook files: opening, saving, closing, and so on. It discusses how Excel uses files and provides an overview of the various types of files. Most of the file operations discussed here occur in the Backstage view, the screen that you see when you click the File button above the Excel Ribbon.
Creating a New Workbook
When you start Excel 2013, it displays a Start Screen that lists recently used files and shows templates that you can use as the basis for a new workbook. One of the template options is “Blank workbook,” which gives you an empty workbook.
New Feature
The Start Screen is new to Excel 2013. If you prefer to skip the Start Screen and always start with an empty workbook, choose File ⇒ Options. In the Excel Options dialog box, click the General tab and remove the check mark from the option labeled Show the Start Screen When This Application Starts.
After you start Excel, the empty workbook is called Book1. This workbook exists only in memory and hasn't been saved to disk. By default, this workbook contains one worksheet named Sheet1. If you're starting a project from scratch, you can use this blank workbook.
While you're working in Excel, you can create a new (empty) workbook at any time. Excel provides two ways ...
