Excel 2016 Bible

Chapter 7Understanding Excel Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

1. Creating a new workbook
2. Opening an existing workbook
3. Saving and closing workbooks
4. 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 2016, 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.

Tip

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 three worksheets named Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. If you're starting a project from scratch, yovu can use this blank workbook. By the way, you can change ...