Excel Templates

I recently wrote an article on Word Templates, but I forgot to point out that you can do templates in all the other Office products as well. In fact, I had forgotten you could do them altogether, because I rarely use them.

However, as I struggled with yet again overwriting the “master” Excel file I use for my weekly list, it hit me: I could turn this into a template and never have to worry about overwriting the original.

Here is how to save a template in Excel:

1. Create your file in Excel. Put in all tabs, formatting, formulas, etc.
2. Set your default template location. If you haven’t already done so, set your template location. According to the Microsoft documentation, the easiest way to do this is to change the template location in Word (!). You can also go into the Windows registry and do this, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
3. Use the Save As command. From the file type drop down at the bottom of the dialog box, choose Template (*.xlt) and change locations if you want. Click OK.

The easiest way to create a new file based on the Excel template is to double-click on the template file. It will open an unnamed copy of the file for you to modify.

To modify an Excel Template you will need to go into Excel and use the Open command to open the file.

Photo by baldiri