Learn how to save Workbooks

Saving a Workbook

Saving is one of the most important things you'll do in the life of your workbook. Anyone who's ever lost essential data because their computer crashed can tell you, once you've had that happen, you never forget the best advice I can give you: "Save early and often!"

For the first-time save, you can choose Save from the File tab, click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar, or press CTRL + S.

I’ll start with the File tab’s Save command. Because the file has no name or location yet, you need to tell Excel what you want to call it and where you want to store it. Excel shows you a list of the last locations you saved to, and if one of them is fine, select it and then enter a name for the workbook and then click the Save button.

But what if it’s not?

Depending on your situation, you may need to save to a network drive, to a portable flash or thumb drive, or perhaps to OneDrive through Microsoft. In any case, if the last place you saved isn’t where you want to save the current workbook, click the More Options link or click Browse to get the traditional Save As dialog box. From here, you can save to any place your computer has access to, via the web, a network, or within its own hard drive.

By default, the workbook will be saved as an Excel Workbook, in the.xlsx format. You can simply type a name for the file and then choose where to save it, using the list of locations on the left.

Now that the file is saved – I’ve named it Inventory List—let’s talk about saving alternative versions of your workbook and then I’ll share a tip for saving your workbook as you continue building it.

From the File tab, I’ll choose Save As – and I can give the file a new name, to create a new version of the workbook, and save it to the same or a different folder than the original. And because I do want to save it to a new location, I’m going to click Browse.

In the Save As dialog box, I’ll rename the workbook “New Inventory List” so I can use it for a new product line. Now the original will close and this new version will remain open for me to begin editing it.

Before I click Save, though, let’s look at the Save As Type drop list.

From this list, you can choose another format for the workbook file – for example, you can choose to save as a CSV file, which stands for Comma Separated Value. This turns any list—say a worksheet list of customers or students—and turns it into data that you can import into Microsoft Access or any other database application.

You can also choose to save your workbook as a template, if you'd like to use it as the starter for a similar workbook in the future.

Another option? To save the workbook as a PDF, which creates a document out of your workbook, its worksheets spread out over as many pages as needed to include all of the content.

In this case, I'm just saving the file as a standard Excel workbook, with the.xlsx extension, I’m clicking Save, and I can either keep working – notice the new file name is updated on the Title Bar – or I can close it and know it'll be ready for me whenever I need it—appearing on the File tab at the top of the list of available workbooks!

I’ll wrap up with a tip – I always suggest using CTRL + S to do your ongoing saves while working in your Excel workbook – the one you’ve already saved once, that you’re continuing to work on.

Why? Because of human nature. You’ll be working along and the thought will occur to you that you haven’t saved in a while, but if you’re on a roll, you’ll keep putting it off so you don’t have to stop and click a button or go to the File tab.

If you remember to just press CTRL + S, however, you can do that without losing your momentum, and just keep working, your latest efforts safely saved with the file.