These template files work automatically only if you included them in a special folder, named XLSTART. Unfortunately you're likely to have more than one XLSTART folder on your hard drive. To locate the right one, click the Excel Options button to open the Excel Options window, and choose Trust Center from the left-hand column. Then click the Trust Center Options button to open the Trust Center window. Choose Trusted Locations from the left-hand column.

In the Description column, look for an entry labeled 'Excel 2007 default location: User StartUp'. This identifies the folder where you want to place the Book.xltx and Sheet.xltx templates so that they'll load automatically when you start Excel. Click Cancel twice to return to Excel.

Now press Ctrl-A to select the entire worksheet, and change the typeface and font size to the settings you want. For example, you might change the typeface to Times Roman New, and the point size to 12. Repeat these steps for any additional worksheets in the workbook. Then click File, Save As to save the workbook with the file name "Book" in the Excel template format (*.xltx); use the Excel macro-enabled template format (*.xltm) if the workbook includes macros. Make sure that you change the file location to the XLSTART folder that you identified in the previous step.

Next, close Excel and then restart it. The app will use the Book.xltx template as the model for your new workbook, and the default typeface and font size that you specified in Book.xltx will appear in the new file.

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