Excel 2020: Changes to Book Template are Cumulative


February 13, 2020 - by

Changes to Book Template  are Cumulative. Photo Credit: Annie Spratt at Unsplash.com

I‘ve had the opportunity to speak at three consecutive Excelapalooza conferences near Dallas. The conference team arranges two simultaneous tracks about Microsoft Excel. While I am presenting in one ballroom, Lawrence “Mac” McClelland is presenting another track in another ballroom. I picked up this tip from Mac:

Anything you do to Book.xltx (default workbook) is cumulative. Build the workbook with your favorite settings today. If you discover some new settings that you would like to add to Book.xltx in the future, follow these steps:


  1. Press Ctrl+N to open a blank version of Book.xltx.
  2. Make any changes you would like.
  3. Select File, Save As.
  4. Change the file type to XLTX or XLTM, depending on whether you regularly use macros.
  5. Change Folder to the XLStart folder.
  6. Save the file as Book.xltx to replace the existing Book.xltx.
  7. Repeat steps 3–5 and save the file as Sheet.xltx.

Title Photo: Annie Spratt at Unsplash.com


This article is an excerpt from MrExcel 2020 - Seeing Excel Clearly.