Part I: Getting Started with Excel
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Excel provides four ways to save your workbook:l Click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar.l (^) Press Ctrl+S.
l Press Shift+F12.
l (^) Choose File ➪ Save.
Caution
Saving a file overwrites the previous version of the file on your hard drive. If you open a workbook and then
completely mess it up, don’t save the file! Instead, close the workbook without saving it and then reopen the
good copy on your hard drive. n
If your workbook has already been saved, it’s saved again using the same filename. If you want to
save the workbook to a new file, choose File ➪ Save As (or press F12).
If your workbook has never been saved, its title bar displays a default name, such as Book1 or
Book2. Although Excel allows you to use these generic workbook names for filenames, you’ll be
better off using more descriptive filenames. Therefore, the first time that you save a new workbook,
Excel displays the Save As dialog box to let you provide a more meaningful name.
The Save As dialog box is similar to the Open dialog box. Select the desired folder in the folder list
on the left. After you select the folder, enter the filename in the File Name field. You don’t need to
specify a file extension — Excel adds it automatically, based on the file type specified in the Save as
Type field. By default, files are saved in the standard Excel file format, which uses an .xlsx file
extension.
Tip
To change the default file format for saving files, access the Excel Options dialog box. Click the Save tab and
change the setting for the Save Files in This Format option. For example, if your workbooks must be compatible
with older versions of Excel, you can change the default format to Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls). Doing so
eliminates the need to select the older file type every time you save a new workbook. n
Caution
If your workbook contains VBA macros, saving it with an .xlsx file extension will erase all the macros. It
must be saved with an .xlsm extension (or saved in the XLS or XLSB format)). If your workbook has macros,
Excel will still propose to save it as an XLSX file. It other words, Excel suggests a file format that will destroy
your macros! It will, however, warn you that the macros will be lost. n
If a file with the same name already exists in the folder that you specify, Excel asks whether you
want to overwrite that file with the new file. Be careful: You can’t recover the previous file after
you overwrite it.