how to disable new worksheet at startup

[jhorner]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

does anyone know how to disable the feature that creates a new empty worksheet at startup? i searched all through the preferences to no avail. any help would be much appreciated.

thanks,

jhorner

 

[CyberTaz]

Like Word, Excel is a document-centric application - you can do nothing with
it unless a file is open, including modification of Preferences. It's
written to open a file when launched directly and there is no setting that
will change that.

If you will share your reason for wanting it to do otherwise perhaps there
is an alternative suggestion or 2 to be offered.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[jhorner]

hi bob,

thanks for your reply. certainly i can explain a little bit more about what i am trying to accomplish. often, i want to open up an excel workbook that was used relatively recently. it is faster for me to simply launch excel from the dock and then use "open recent" to pull up the desired document. otherwise if i have to navigate to the file itself on my hard drive which may be nested 10 folders deep (assuming i can remember where it is to begin with). but using this method always opens a new workbook which i then have to close every time i launch excel. i know a lot of the applications i use have a user modifiable preference to open a new document at startup and i was hoping excel would be the same. any thoughts about a workaround?

thanks,

jhorner

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

does anyone know how to disable the feature that creates a new empty
worksheet at startup? i searched all through the preferences to no avail. any
help would be much appreciated.

XL operates according to Apple's OS X Human Interface Guidelines, which
specify that a document based application should open a blank document
on startup. There is no preference for disabling this behavior.

However, you can easily save this script

tell application "Microsoft Excel"
activate
close active workbook
end tell

as an application, and use it to open XL. You'll barely notice the flash.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

hi bob,

thanks for your reply. certainly i can explain a little bit more about what i
am trying to accomplish. often, i want to open up an excel workbook that was
used relatively recently. it is faster for me to simply launch excel from the
dock and then use "open recent" to pull up the desired document. otherwise if
i have to navigate to the file itself on my hard drive which may be nested 10
folders deep (assuming i can remember where it is to begin with). but using
this method always opens a new workbook which i then have to close every time
i launch excel. i know a lot of the applications i use have a user modifiable
preference to open a new document at startup and i was hoping excel would be
the same. any thoughts about a workaround?

One way would be the script I provided.

Since you're using Leopard, you could use a smart folder on your dock -
I have one set for recent apps and one for recent docs.

I also frequently start apps and docs using spotlight. CMD-spacebar,
followed by "ex" and return starts XL. Much less time than shifting my
thumb to the trackpad. YMMV, depending on spotlight settings, names of
your apps and docs.

 

[CyberTaz]

John's suggestions are excellent, but as I understand your complaint it's
totally unnecessary to go to those lengths

What I understand you to be saying that you "want to open up an excel
workbook that was used relatively recently" without having to close the
blank new workbook... So *don't* bother to do so When you open the file
you want the blank workbook simply evaporates... There's absolutely no need
to close it. Just do exactly the steps you expressly stated: launch Excel,
go to File> Open Recent & select your file.

In addition to John's suggestion you can also use the Apple Menu's Recent
Items List, but there's another app in the Office suite that might be an
even better option. Unfortunately most folks never think of it and may not
even know it exists. Try this on & see how it fits...

In Applications/MS Office 2008/Office/ locate Microsoft Project Gallery.app
then launch it. Set it to Open On: Recent on the Settings page, specify
Excel Documents in the Show list of the Recent page if you wish. Whatever
settings you make will be retained, so you might want to take a closer look
at some of the other options on those 2 pages - especially Settings. Keep in
mind also that the list of Recent files can be sorted by Date or Alpha in
either descending or ascending order. If you like how it works drag the
Project Gallery app to the dock & use it rather than the Excel icon.

Alternatively you can set the Project Gallery to launch on Open in Excel>
Options - Project Gallery if you prefer rather than adding to the Dock.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Harvey Waxman]

hi bob,

thanks for your reply. certainly i can explain a little bit more about what i
am trying to accomplish. often, i want to open up an excel workbook that was
used relatively recently. it is faster for me to simply launch excel from the
dock and then use "open recent" to pull up the desired document. otherwise if
i have to navigate to the file itself on my hard drive which may be nested 10
folders deep (assuming i can remember where it is to begin with). but using
this method always opens a new workbook which i then have to close every time
i launch excel. i know a lot of the applications i use have a user modifiable
preference to open a new document at startup and i was hoping excel would be
the same. any thoughts about a workaround?

thanks,

jhorner

Next time you're in the folder, create an alias and put it on your
desktop. Or you can drag the file to the dock and launch it from there.

 

[CyberTaz]

Good thought, Harvey - I think John & I both interpreted the OP wanting to
select *a* recently used file rather than a *specific* regularly used file.
Thanks for the contribution

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Harvey Waxman]

Good thought, Harvey - I think John & I both interpreted the OP wanting to
select *a* recently used file rather than a *specific* regularly used file.
Thanks for the contribution

If simple minds produce simple solutions, I qualify.

 

[jhorner]

hi bob,

sorry for the delayed response, i was having a little trouble earlier posting a reply. anyway, thanks for your answers, tips and solutions. i am not all that computer savvy so i was hoping you could explain the steps involved in saving the script you outlined as an app. is that something i would do using "automator"? thanks for your help.... i really appreciate it.

jhorner

 

[jhorner]

hi cybertaz,

thanks for the tip about using the project gallery feature. i was not familiar with this technique and i think it will be very helpful in the future. thanks!

all the best,

jhorner

 

[jhorner]

oh... and thanks for the smart folder tip too... i use that in "mail" but it never occurred to me that i could do it in the finer too!

thanks again!

jhorner

 

[JE McGimpsey]

i was hoping you could explain the steps involved in saving the script you
outlined as an app. is that something i would do using "automator"?

No need for automator for this.

Paste it into Script Editor, and Save. In the Save As dialog, navigate
to your wherever you choose to store the app, and enter the file name.

Choose "Application" from the "File Format:" dropdown (if you like,
check the "Run Only" Options button).

Now you can double-click on that app just like any other, and you can
drag it to the dock.

You can even copy and paste XL's icon onto the new app (using File/Get
Info in the Finder).