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Understanding Excel’s Files
Filenaming Rules
he Excel workbook files are subject to the same rules that apply to other Windows files. A filename can be
Tup to 255 characters, including spaces. This length enables you to give meaningful names to your files.
You can’t, however, use any of the following characters in your filenames:
\ (backslash)
? (question mark)
: (colon)
* (asterisk)
“ (quote)
< (less than)
> (greater than)
| (vertical bar)
You can use uppercase and lowercase letters in your names to improve readability. The filenames aren’t case
sensitive — My 2007 Budget.xlsx and MY 2007 BUDGET.xlsx are equivalent names. 8
Specifying a password
In some cases, you may want to specify a password for your workbook. When a user attempts to open a
password-protected workbook, a password must be entered before the file is opened.
For some reason, it seems that Microsoft wants to keep the password-protection feature a secret. Password-
protecting a workbook isn’t at all obvious. Here’s how to do it.
1. Choose Office ➪ Save As to display the Save As dialog box.
2. In the Save As dialog box, click the drop-down button labeled Tools
3. In the Tools drop-down list, select General Options to display the General Options dialog
box, shown in Figure 8.4.
4. Type the password to open and click OK. You’re asked to re-enter the password.
5. When you return to the Save As dialog box, click the Save button to save the file.
CAUTION Passwords can be up to 15 characters long and are case sensitive. Be careful with this option
CAUTION
because it is impossible to open the workbook (using normal methods) if you forget the pass-
word. Also, remember that Excel passwords can be cracked, so it’s not a perfect security measure.
CROSS-REF
CROSS-REF For additional security, you may prefer to encrypt your workbook. See “Encrypting a docu-
ment,” later in this chapter.
The General Options dialog box has a few other features.
n Always Create Backup: If this option is checked, the existing version of the workbook is
renamed before the workbook is saved. The new filename will be named “Backup of xxx.xlk,”
where xxx represents the original filename. Creating a backup enables you to go back to the previ-
ously saved version of your workbook.
n Password To Modify: This option enables you to specify a password that will be required before
changes to the workbook can be saved under the same filename. Use this option if you want to
make sure that changes aren’t made to the original version of the workbook.
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