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If you normally launch Excel 2002 by clicking a shortcut on
your desktop, you may not want to see an empty workbook. To prevent Excel from
displaying an empty workbook when it is started, follow these steps:

  1. In
    Windows Explorer, go to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Shortcut
    bar\Office and delete the existing shortcut for Excel. (In Excel 2003, go
    to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Shortcut bar\Office.)
  2. In
    Windows Explorer, go to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10. Then,
    right-click the EXCEL.exe icon and select Create Shortcut. (In Excel 2003,
    go to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11. Then, right-click the
    EXCEL.exe icon and select Create Shortcut.)
  3. Right-click
    the shortcut icon and select Properties.
  4. In the
    Shortcut tab, add a space, followed by the /e switch to the path in the
    Target box. For example, in Excel 2002, the entry in the Target box would
    be: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.exe” /e
  5. Click
    OK.

When you double-click the Excel shortcut icon, the application
will open without displaying a blank workbook.