File format for Excel templates

Question

File format for Excel templates

Nelviticus (Programmer)

(OP)

7 Jan 10 05:22

We use Excel 2007. One of our users has created a template to put in our shared workgroup templates area, but because it's a huge file they've saved it in the .xlsb format to make it smaller. The .xlsb format is not an Excel template format.

I've done some experimenting and if you put a non-template file - such as .xls, .xlsb, .xlsm or .xlsx - in your templates folder, Excel treats it like a template. It appears in the 'New' dialog box under the 'My templates' item (which is where users find our workgroup templates) and it seems to behave properly if you create a new document based on it, i.e. Excel creates a new document rather than opening it in shared mode.

So my question is this: is there any down-side to using a non-template file format as a template?

Thanks

Nelviticus

TonyJollans (Programmer) · Answer 1 · 2010-01-07 05:48:41

Both Word and Excel have a "Create New from Existing" capability, which does what it says on the tin. This creates a new document/workbook by copying the existing one, which is not the same as creating a new document based on a template. The big difference is that the VB Project is included in the new document/workbook created this way. There are other differences in Word, I'm not sure about Excel, which uses Templates slightly differently.

Enjoy,
Tony

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Nelviticus (Programmer) · Answer 2 · 2010-01-07 07:42:52

If you put any format of Excel file in your templates directory (local or workgroup) then use Office/New/My templates, Excel will create a new document from it without you having to specifically choose 'Create New from Existing'.

As you've pointed out Tony, the difference between template and non-template files in this instance is that if there's any VB code present, the template ones will strip this out (after executing any AutoNew code).

Thanks, I understand it now.

Nelviticus

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File format for Excel templates