How to create a new workbook

In this lesson we'll look at several ways to create a new document in Excel:

The New menu on the File tab
The keyboard shortcut Control-N
The Quick Access toolbar

Let's take a look.

When you first start Excel, you'll see you have a new blank document ready to use. If you want to create your own new document, you have several options.

First, you can create a new workbook by going to the File tab, and selecting New. You can then choose Blank Workbook, or choose from many available templates. Double-click the Blank Workbook icon to create the new file.

You can also create a new workbook by using the keyboard shortcut, Control-N.

All new workbooks have a default name, which you can see in the window title at the top. Each time you create a new workbook, Excel will generate a new numbered name. If you press Control-N again, you will see that number increase.

You can see all currently open workbooks by clicking the Switch windows menu on the View tab of the ribbon.

Finally, you can create a new workbook by clicking the New icon on the Quick Access toolbar. If you don't see this command, you can add the icon by customizing the toolbar.

Just select the New command in the Quick Access toolbar menu. The New icon will now be displayed in the toolbar.

You can close workbooks by clicking the X in the upper right corner. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Control-W to close a workbook.

Note that if a workbook has not been changed, Excel will not ask if you want to save the file.