How to use Excel startup folders in Excel for Mac (259921)

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Folders that Excel uses at startup

If you install Excel to the default location, Excel opens files from the following paths. In these paths, hard disk is the name of your hard disk drive.

• Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac

  hard disk/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Office/Startup/Excel

• Microsoft Excel X for Mac

  hard disk/Applications/Microsoft Office X/Office/Startup/Excel

• Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac

  hard disk/Microsoft Office 2001/Office/Startup/Excel

  Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

  hard disk/Microsoft Office 98/Office/Startup/Excel

• The folder that is specified in the Alternate startup file location box. In Excel X for Mac and in later versions, click Preferences on the Excel menu, and then click the General tab in the Preferences dialog box to see the Alternate startup file location box. In Excel 98 for Mac and in Excel 2001 for Mac, click Preferences on the Tools menu, and then click the General tab in the Options dialog box to see the Alternate startup file location box.

Accepted file types during Excel startup

You typically use startup folders to load Excel templates and add-ins, but you can also use them to load workbooks. When you load these three types of files from a startup folder, they have the following important characteristics.

Templates

• Templates that you put in a startup folder are not loaded when you start Excel. However, in Excel 98 for Mac and in Excel 2001 for Mac, you can use the templates by clicking New on the File menu.
• If you save a template named Workbook and put it in a startup folder location, that workbook becomes the default workbook when you start Excel and when you open any additional new workbooks. When you save a template named Workbook to put in a startup folder location, remove the .xlt file name extension.
• If you save a template named Sheet and put it in a startup folder location, that workbook becomes the default worksheet when you insert a new worksheet in a workbook by clicking Worksheet on the Insert menu. When you save a template named Sheet to put in a startup folder location, remove the .xlt file name extension.
  
  Note If you have multiple worksheets in the workbook template named Sheet, insert that same number of worksheets when you click Worksheet on the Insert menu. It is generally best to save a one-sheet workbook as the Sheet template.
• In Excel X for Mac and in later versions, to use any additional custom templates that you create, you must put them in the following folder:

  Applications/Microsoft Office version/Templates/My Templates

  Then, to use the templates, click Project Gallery on the File menu, and then click the My Templates group.

Add-Ins

• Add-Ins that you put in a startup folder do not typically appear when you start Excel, but are loaded into memory and run any auto macros.
• You can then use these Add-Ins by whatever method the add-in provides (that is, a menu item or toolbar button).

Workbooks

• Workbooks that you put in a startup folder are loaded and appear when you start Excel, unless the workbook is saved in a hidden state. For example, the Personal Macro Workbook is a global macro workbook that Excel typically loads from the hard disk/Microsoft Office 98/Office/Startup/Excel folder in a hidden state.

Incorrect use of the alternate startup file location

• When using the alternate startup file location, it is important to specify a file path in which there are recognizable file types (such as templates, add-ins, and workbooks).
• If Excel finds unrecognizable file types in a startup folder, you may receive an error message. The most common error message is:
  This file is not a recognizable format.

Using the default file location

• In addition to the alternate startup file location, the Default file location setting is also on the General tab in the Options dialog box in Excel 98 for Mac and in Excel 2001 for Mac, or on the General tab in the Preferences dialog box in later versions of Excel for Mac. This setting is different from a startup folder; it sets the folder location that you want Excel to point to when you open or save a file by using the File menu.