Did you check the windows explorer extensions?

I'd delete book.xlt and sheet.xlt and recreate them -- I still think that they
may not be real templates.

Vincnet. wrote:

Funny things...
I've tried different things that you've proposed.
1st: check my current default path (it was as expected the one in
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART)
and put my book.xlt (which is a real template and not a file) in it. Nothing
changed.
2nd: check all the folders XLStart on my C:/ and found one for each users
(admin, me, common, etc.) and one in C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office\XLStart
I've tried to delete it, but (and that's the surprise) when I launch Excel,
an office wizard appears and installs excel (!). And the folder XLStart in
program files re-appears.
And nothing changes...
3rd: I've tried to put a Sheet.xlt and Book.xlt in my XLStart folders (both
of them) and when I open XL, one file named book.xlT and one named sheet.xlT
appears.

I really don't understand, but thanks for helping!
--
A+

V.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

You shouldn't ever see book.xlt when you start excel.

I could see a workbook named book.xlt if I saved it as a normal workbook with
the name of "book.xlt"--but this isn't a template. And I had to go out of my
way to save it with that name. I used "book.xlt" with the quotes in the
File|saveas dialog.

If you open excel and put this in A1 of that book.xlt
=CELL("filename",A1)
what do you see?

When I saved a workbook (a normal workbook), but used a name of "book.xlt" into
my XLStart folder, I saw this:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\[book.xlt]Sheet1

Another problem that might have occured: You saved the file as book.xlt (but
the real name was book.xlt.xls and you don't show the file extension.

If you do that =cell("filename",a1) and see something like:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\[book.xlt.xls]Sheet1

That could be the problem.

I like to always see the file extensions. In winXP, I can toggle that setting
via:

open Windows explorer
tools|Folder options|view tab
uncheck "hide extensions for known file types"

So you should be able to save the file as book.xlt (make sure you choose
"Template (*.xlt)" in that "save as type:" box.

======
More things to check....

Depending on how you upgraded excel, you can have multiple XLStart folders. I
try to use the one that excel thinks is "current".

With Excel open
hit the alt-f11 key (gets you to the VBE)
then hit ctrl-g (gets you to the immediate window)
type this and hit enter
?application.startuppath

I get this with xl2003 and winXP home:
C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

I'd close excel and find all of them:
windows start button|Search
Look for XLStart
and delete all of them--except for the one that excel thought was current.

(move the files in those folder to someplace safe--just in case there's
something you want to keep.)

Then back to excel and create your book.xlt and save it to that folder.

And if you create another workbook named sheet.xlt, then all the new sheets
added to existing workbooks will use that as their template.

I click on the New icon (like Gord) to use book.xlt as the template.


Vincnet. wrote:

Hi Dave,
I was very interested in your post. I've tried to save a customized template
named "book.xlt" in my folder XLStart (the one under the Program Files
folder), and I've been surprised to see a book.xlT when opening XL.
Furthermore, when I insert a sheet, or when I create a new workbook, the new
items are not customized but use the "standard" parameters of XL... Have you
any clue which could explain that?
Thanks
--
CU

V.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

If you start a new workbook and change the page layout (for all the sheets), you
can save it into your XLStart folder as Book.xlt.

Excel will use that as the basis for new workbooks.

You can change a lot of settings that way--including orientation,
headers/footers....

Amjad wrote:

How to change the default printing parameters on Excel & keep them changed
for future workbooks.

Example: Normally I use Printing margins 0.25 on all directions, but
default printing margins are 0.75. I want to change them to set 0.25 as
DEFAULT.

--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson