Control over typeface settings is just the tip of the iceberg. You can customize all sorts of settings in Book.xltx that Excel will subsequently incorporate into new workbooks, saving you lots of time.

For example, suppose that most of the worksheets you create work with currency figures. Since the normal Excel default formatting for numeric values in cells is the General setting, you must reformat the cells to use the currency formatting that you prefer, such as inclusion of a $ symbol, commas between thousands, red type and parentheses for negative values, and two decimal places. To adjust the workbook template accordingly, open the Book.xltx template file, select all of its cells by pressing Ctrl-A, and then format the cells as you like. (Remember to repeat the formatting for any additional worksheets in the workbook.) Then save the template.

The next time you open Excel, it will create a new, empty workbook whose cells have the same numeric formatting that you specified in the Book.xltx template file.

You can also use the template to create models of the individual worksheets you want. For example, suppose that the workbooks you most often create have four worksheets--one each for the east, south, west, and north sales regions. You can create a template for each of those worksheets and label their tabs in the Book.xltx workbook template file; and subsequently they will appear whenever you instruct Excel to create a new workbook. You can fill in cells with header information or other content, set up the page for landscape printing, define headers and footers, and establish a wide range of other time-saving settings.

These tweaks can automate many of the specifications that you may currently be entering by hand each time you create a new workbook. Try a few of them, and watch your time savings grow.