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How do you change default cell alignment in Excel 2003

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7 replies

by jim_vander_noot

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The default of "bottom" for vertical cell alignment in Excel drives me nuts. I've tried everything I can think of to change it - formating a workbook and saving it as a template, etc, etc...

Nothing works - everytime I open a new workbook, I have to select the whole sheet and go into the format menu.

I'm sick and tired of this. HELP!!!

7 replies

by schiefed

Try Format->Style..., Modify...
Select your desired alignment.

Help provides additional insight

by hkrishnan

Thanks for crisp and correct answer which solved my 6months of frustration with excel standard formatting of cells.

by rossruns+techrepublic

You were right, you need to create a template. The hardest part is to figure out where to save it so it becomes your default template.

Configure a excel file the way you want, and save it as a template called BOOK.XLT, but not in the default template directory that pops up - instead save to the following location:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX\XLSTART\

(OfficeXX will be dependent on which version of MS Office you have, but you're looking for the one that has a folder called XLSTART in it)

Once you've save it here, close Excel, and next time you open Excel, it should open a new workbook called "Book1" with your new default formatted settings. When you save the new file, it'll give you your default "save as" box as normal. The only difference between this and what you have now is whatever you've added to the default template.

If you ever get tired of how your formatted, just delete the BOOK.XLT file and start over with the new way you'd like it formatted.

by rimrunner

This tip has solved one of my greatest issues with Excel which has bugged me for years...thanks heaps!!

by a_godo

I've been searching for this half heartedly for years. I've run into the xlt solution before, but was frustrated. It was never saving the xlt file to the main location, but to my local documents. Just another level of frustration! After saving the book.xlt, if it is not in c:\program files\microsoft office\officexx\xlstart, try the drop down to see where it actually saved it, or go to your C:\Documents and Settings\you.dude\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates folder and there it lies prolly with a bevy of other obscurely named files.

by techrepublic

I know it's trivial, but this had bugged me for years; thanks for the post! (BTW the suggestion to modify the Style doesn't persist to the next new workbook, let alone the next execution of Excel! This one works!)

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