1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. In Windows Explorer, go to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11, right-click EXCEL.exe, and click Create Shortcut.
3. Right-click the shortcut you created, click Properties, and then modify the path in the Target box with switches from the following table.

   Note  Switches are not case sensitive: /O is the same as /o. In some scenarios, you can use more than one switch at a time. If you use more than one switch at a time, you must separate the switches with spaces. For example: /o /s

   To start Excel and	Type
   Prevent display of the Excel startup screen and a new blank workbook	/e or /embedded
   Create a new workbook that contains a single macro sheet	/m
   Force Excel to re-register itself	/o
   Specify the working folder as the active working folder instead of the default working folder	/p workbook path
   Open a specific workbook as read-only (read-only: A setting that allows a file to be read or copied, but not changed or saved. If you change a read-only file, you can save your changes only if you give the document a new name.)	/r workbook path\file name
   Specify Office Safe Mode	/s, /safe, or /safemode
   Open and close Excel to rewrite all registry keys and reassociate Excel with all Excel files, such as workbooks and charts	/regserver
   Open and close Excel to unregister Excel	/unregserver

4. Click OK.
5. Move the shortcut to \Windows\Documents and Settings\Start Menu.

Note  Your custom shortcut may be replaced by a Windows Installer shortcut if you name the shortcut Microsoft Excel, and either of the following are true:

• You use the Detect and Repair command in Microsoft Office, and you selected the Repair my shortcuts while repairing check box.
• You select the Repair Office option in Maintenance Mode setup, click the Repair errors in my Office installation option, and then select the Restore My Shortcuts check box.

If a Windows Installer shortcut replaces your custom shortcut, you must re-create your custom, non-Windows Installer, shortcuts.

This procedure clears all ways in which a workbook could be loaded.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
2. Clear the contents of the At startup, open all files in box.
3. Remove workbooks stored in the XLStart folder.
4. In Windows Explorer, remove the icon of the workbook you want to open in an alternate startup folder.
5. Remove a startup switch from the Excel icon.
6. Right-click the Excel icon that you want to use to open Excel, and clear the contents of the Target box.

Automatic macros, such as Auto_Open, are designed to run when you start Excel. For more information about these macros, see Microsoft Visual Basic Help.

• To prevent macros from automatically running, hold down SHIFT while you start Excel.

  Note  If you start Excel from the Office Shortcut Bar, click the Microsoft Excel button on the Office Shortcut Bar first, and then immediately hold down SHIFT while Excel starts.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the View tab, under Show, clear the Startup Task Pane check box.

1. Decide which type of template you want:

   • Workbook template    Create a workbook that contains the sheets, default text (such as page headers and column and row labels), formulas, macros (macro: An action or a set of actions you can use to automate tasks. Macros are recorded in the Visual Basic for Applications programming language.), styles (style: A combination of formatting characteristics, such as font, font size, and indentation, that you name and store as a set. When you apply a style, all of the formatting instructions in that style are applied at one time.), and other formatting you want in new workbooks based on the template.
   • Worksheet template    Create a workbook that contains one worksheet. On the worksheet, include the formatting, styles (style: A combination of formatting characteristics, such as font, font size, and indentation, that you name and store as a set. When you apply a style, all of the formatting instructions in that style are applied at one time.), text, and other information you want to appear on all new sheets of the same type.

   Settings that can be saved

   Formatting

   • Cell and sheet formats. Set by using the commands on the Format menu.
   • Page formats and print area (print area: One or more ranges of cells that you designate to print when you don't want to print the entire worksheet. If a worksheet includes a print area, only the print area is printed.) settings for each sheet.
   • Cell styles (style: A combination of formatting characteristics, such as font, font size, and indentation, that you name and store as a set. When you apply a style, all of the formatting instructions in that style are applied at one time.).
   • The number and type of sheets in a workbook.
   • Protected and hidden areas of the workbook. You can hide sheets, rows, and columns and prevent changes to worksheet cells.

   Text, data, graphics, and formulas

   • Text you want to repeat, such as page headers and row and column labels.
   • Data, graphics, formulas, charts, and other information.
   • Data validation settings.

   Toolbars, automation, and Option settings

   • Custom toolbars, macros (macro: An action or a set of actions you can use to automate tasks. Macros are recorded in the Visual Basic for Applications programming language.), hyperlinks (hyperlink: Colored and underlined text or a graphic that you click to go to a file, a location in a file, a Web page on the World Wide Web, or a Web page on an intranet. Hyperlinks can also go to newsgroups and to Gopher, Telnet, and FTP sites.), and ActiveX controls (ActiveX control: A control, such as a check box or button that offers options to users or runs macros or scripts that automate a task. You can write macros for the control in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications or scripts in Microsoft Script Editor.) on forms. To make a custom toolbar available, attach the toolbar to the template.

     How?

     1. Open the template to which you want to attach a custom toolbar.
     2. On the Tools menu, click Customize.
     3. On the Toolbars tab, click Attach.
     4. Under Custom Toolbars, click the toolbar you want to attach, and then click Copy.

        Note  Be sure to save the template after attaching the toolbar.

   • Workbook calculation options and window view options. Set with the Options command (Tools menu).

2. To display a picture of the first page of a template in the Preview box of the Templates dialog box (General Templates..., New Workbook task pane), click Properties on the File menu, click the Summary tab, and then select the Save preview picture check box.

3. On the File menu, click Save As.

4. In the Save as type box, click Template.

5. In the Save in box, select the folder where you want to store the template.

   • To create the default workbook template (default workbook template: The Book.xlt template that you create to change the default format of new workbooks. Excel uses the template to create a blank workbook when you start Excel or create a new workbook without specifying a template.) or default worksheet template (default worksheet template: The Sheet.xlt template that you create to change the default format of new worksheets. Excel uses the template to create a blank worksheet when you add a new worksheet to a workbook.), select either the XLStart folder or the alternate startup folder. The XLStart folder is usually

     C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\XLStart

   • To create a custom workbook or worksheet template, select the Templates folder, which is usually

     C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

6. Enter the name of the template in the File name box. Do one of the following:

   • Type book to create the default workbook template.

     To create a custom workbook template, type any valid file name.

   • Type sheet to create a template for default worksheets.

     To create a custom sheet template, type any valid file name.

7. Click Save, and then click Close on the File menu.