Page 38 - Excel Timesaving Techniques for Dummies

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Modifying the Default File Location
Modifying the Default of the folder at the end of the new pathname appears
in the Save In drop-down list box. (If you want to
File Location check that the path to this folder is correct, select
the Save In drop-down list to display it.) Then all
you have to do to complete the save operation is
If your Excel work habits are anything like mine,
you tend to find yourself at certain times having to edit the temporary filename and click Save.
to build several workbooks of the same type (time
cards, financial statements, expense reports, and
so on) that all need to be saved in the same folder.
For those times, you can streamline this process
and guard against saving the new workbook in the
wrong location by changing the default file location.
That way, when you first save the workbook, you
don’t have to bother with changing the folder, and
you don’t have to worry about saving the workbook
in an unintended place.

To change the default file folder location to a folder
that you’ve already created with Windows Explorer,
follow these steps:
1. Choose Tool➪Options to open the Options dia-
log box.
• Figure 4-1: To change where Excel automatically saves its
2. Select the General tab in the Options folder. files, enter the pathname in the Default File
Location text box.
3. In the Default File Location text box, enter the
pathname to the folder you want as the default,
as shown in Figure 4-1.
This assumes that you’ve planned ahead and
already used Windows Explorer to create such
a folder.

The pathname consists of the drive letter
followed by a colon and the names of all
subfolders separated by backslashes, as in
C:\Accounting\Expenses.

4. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

After changing the default file location in the Options
• Figure 4-2: After designating a new default file location,
dialog box, the next time you open the Save As dialog Excel automatically selects that folder for all
box (shown in Figure 4-2) to save a new workbook
new files you save.
(by choosing File➪Save, clicking the Save button on
the Standard toolbar, or pressing Ctrl+S), the name