Workbook in Excel: How to Create, Open or Close it

Please follow this guide to learn the basics of Workbook in Excel. I’m going to talk about Workbooks in Excel and why it’s important to you.

How important? because if you want to become an expert in using Excel, then you can start by getting to know Workbooks, how to create, open, and close them in Excel. Let’s start…

What are Excel Workbooks?

Workbooks in Excel are Excel files where you can process data whether it’s numbers, text, symbols, formulas, charts, etc. This workbook can consist of several sheets (Worksheets). In other words, if you finish a job using Excel and then save it on your computer, then this file is called a workbook.

As a simple example, consider the following illustration:

There is a book called “Excel Guide by M Jurnal”. This book has 10 Chapters. Each Chapter can have more than 1 page, maybe 20 to 30 pages. This has to do with workbooks in Excel:

• 1 Chapter = 1 Sheet (Worksheet) which can have many pages.
• 1 Book “Excel Guide by M Jurnal” = 1 Workbook in Excel which can have multiple Worksheets.

Maybe this is the definition of Workbook in Excel that you need to understand. And I hope you can go to the next stage.

How to Create a New Workbook in Excel?

To create a new workbook in Excel, please follow the steps below:

1. Run the Excel software on your computer.
2. Select a template if you want to start with a default template. Or click Blank Workbook if you don’t want to use a template. In this example, I’m selecting a blank Workbook.
3. Start working with Excel. You can write anything, process data, create graphs, etc.

As you can see, Excel always starts a new blank Workbook with Sheet1. And start working using Excel then save it. Then you already have 1 new workbook.

For example, I save this Workbook with the name MyFirstWorkbook.xlsx. Then save it on a computer disk. Then at any time, you can easily reopen this Workbook.

How to Open an Existing Workbook in Excel?

You can open an existing Excel Workbook by clicking the Excel file on the disk of your device or opening it through Excel software. To open your workbook, please follow these steps:

1. Open Excel Software on Your Computer. On your computer, please open Excel Software.
   
2. Select History or Browse the Workbook. If you have opened a Workbook recently, you can reopen it in history. Please double click on the workbook you wish to open. If the workbook is not in the history, please click Open other Workbooks.
   
3. Browse Your Workbook. For example, I looked for it on a computer disk. Please click Computer and then click Browse.
   
4. Open Your Workbook. In the Open Window, please find and click Name of your Workbook then click Open.
   

If you haven’t missed something, I’m sure you opened the correct Workbook. You can see the name of the workbook currently open at the top of the window as shown below:

How to Close a Workbook on Excel?

When you have finished working on 1 workbook, you can close it by clicking the close icon in the upper right corner of the window.

Pro Tips: If your workbook changes, Excel will warn you whether to save the changes or not. Clicking Save will save any changes. Clicking “don’t save” won’t save any changes. Then Excel will close by itself. But if you click Cancel, Excel won’t save and close.

Bonus: Can I Skip the Start Screen?

When you open the Excel software, the Excel Start Screen will open. If you don’t want this to happen and skip it, please follow the steps to skip the Excel start screen:

1. In the active Workbook, please click the File Tab.
   
2. Click Options to open the “Excel Options” Window.
   
3. Click the General Tab
   
4. Scroll to the “start up options”, then uncheck the “Show the Start Screen when this application starts”, then click Ok.
   

In this way, automatically when you open Excel Software, Excel will create a new Blank Workbook and skip the start screen. In some cases, this can save you time.