Lesson 4 – Saving, Opening & Managing Workbooks

MS Excel Course • Level 1 – Beginner Essentials • Lesson 4

In this lesson, you will learn how to save, open, close, and manage multiple Excel files (called workbooks).

What you will learn

• Different Save options
• Opening existing workbooks
• Saving with different formats
• Managing multiple open files

1. Saving a Workbook

Press Ctrl + S anytime to save quickly.

Save As

To save for the first time:

• Go to File → Save As
• Choose location
• Type file name
• Click Save

File formats

• .xlsx → Normal workbook
• .xlsm → Workbook with macros
• .csv → Plain data (no formatting)
• .pdf → Export for printing/sharing

2. Opening Workbooks

• Double-click file in your folder
• OR open Excel → File → Open
• Your recent files appear on the right

3. Managing Multiple Files

• Ctrl + Tab → Switch between open files
• Ctrl + W → Close current workbook
• Excel stays open even after closing files

4. Autosave & Recover

• Excel keeps temporary backups
• If Excel crashes → reopen Excel → auto recovery appears

Always keep your files organized in folders like Documents/ExcelCourse/.

Practice Task

• Create a new file and save as lesson4.xlsx
• Save the same file also as lesson4.csv
• Close and reopen the file

Homework

• Organize your practice files into a proper folder
• Reopen 3 recent files from File → Open → Recent