Part I: Getting Started with Excel
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Saving your custom templates .......................................................................
To save a workbook as a template, choose File ➪ Save As and select Template (*.xltx) from the
Save as Type drop-down list. If the workbook contains any VBA macros, select Excel Macro-
Enabled Template (*.xltm). Save the template in your Templates folder — which Excel automati-
cally suggests — or a folder within that Templates folder.If you later discover that you want to modify the template, choose File ➪ Open to open and edit
the template.Ideas for creating templates ...........................................................................
This section provides a few ideas that may spark your imagination for creating templates. The fol-
lowing is a partial list of the settings that you can adjust and use in your custom templates:l (^) Multiple formatted worksheets: You can, for example, create a workbook template that
has two worksheets — one formatted to print in landscape mode and one formatted to
print in portrait mode.
l Style: The best approach is to choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles and modify the attri-
butes of the Normal style. For example, you can change the font or size, the alignment,
and so on.
l (^) Custom number formats: If you create number formats that you use frequently, you can
store them in a template.
l (^) Column widths and row heights: You may prefer that columns be wider or narrower, or
you may want the rows to be taller.
l (^) Print settings: Change these settings in the Page Layout tab. You can adjust the page ori-
entation, paper size, margins, and several other attributes.
l (^) Header and footer: You enter custom headers or footers in Page Layout view (choose
View ➪ Workbook Views ➪ Page Layout).
l (^) Sheet settings: These options are in the Show group on the View tab, and also on the
Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box (in the Display Options for This Worksheet
section). Options include row and column header, page break display, gridlines, and others.
You can, of course, also create complete workbooks and save them as templates. For example, if
you frequently need to produce a specific report, you may want to create a template that has every-
thing for the report except for the data you need to enter. By saving your master copy as a tem-
plate, you’re less likely to overwrite the original file when you save the file after entering your data.