Excel Options Guide
This table shows every Excel feature that you can change in the Excel Options dialog. The table shows the feature, the category where it can be modified, the section within the category, and the text of the option.
| Feature | Category | Section | Text |
| Mini Toolbar | Popular | Top Options | Show Mini Toolbar on selection |
| Live Preview | Popular | Top Options | Enable Live Preview |
| Macros | Popular | Top Options | Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon |
| Skin | Popular | Top Options | Color Scheme |
| Screentips | Popular | Top Options | Screentip Style |
| Custom Lists | Popular | Top Options | Create Lists For Use In Sorts And Fill Seqences |
| Font | Popular | New Workbooks | Use This Font |
| Font Size | Popular | New Workbooks | Font Size |
| View | Popular | New Workbooks | Default View For New Sheets |
| Worksheets | Popular | New Workbooks | Include This Many Sheets |
| Name | Popular | Personalize | User Name |
| Languages | Popular | Personalize | Choose The Languages You Want To Use With Office |
| Calculation | Formulas | Calculation Options | Workbook Calculation Automatic |
| Calculation | Formulas | Calculation Options | Workbook Calculation Automatic Except For Data Tables |
| Calculation | Formulas | Calculation Options | Calculate Workbook Manual |
| Calculation Saving | Formulas | Calculation Options | Recalculate Workbook Before |
| Circular Reference Formulas | Formulas | Calculation Options | Enable Iterative Calculation |
| Circular Reference Formulas | Formulas | Calculation Options | Maximum Iterations |
| Circular Reference Formulas | Formulas | Calculation Options | Maximum Change |
| R1C1 Style | Formulas | Working With Formulas | R1C1 Reference Style |
| AutoComplete | Formulas | Working With Formulas | Formula AutoComplete |
| Formula Style | Formulas | Working With Formulas | Use Table Names In Formulas |
| GetPivotData | Formulas | Working With Formulas | Use GetPivotData Functions For PivotTable References |
| Error Checking | Formulas | Error Checking | Enable Background Error Checking |
| Error Indicators | Formulas | Error Checking | Indicate Errors Using This Color |
| Errors Ignored | Formulas | Error Checking | Reset Ignored Errors |
| Errors in Formulas | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Cells Containing Formulas That Result In An Error |
| Formulas inconsistent in table | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Inconsistent Calculated Column Formulas In Tables |
| Dates as Text | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Cells Containing Years Represented As 2 Digits |
| Numbers as Text | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Numbers Formatted As Text Or Preceded By An Apostrophe |
| Formulas inconsistent | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Formulas Inconsistent With Other Formulas In The Region |
| Formulas omitted cells | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Formulas Which Omit Cells In A Region |
| Protected sheet with Formulas unlocked formulas | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Unlocked Cells Containing Formulas |
| Empty cells in formula | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Formulas Referring To Empty Cells |
| Table with invalid data | Formulas | Error Checking Rules | Error Checking Rules-Data Entered In A Table Is Invalid. |
| AutoCorrect | Proofing | Autocorrect Options | Autocorrect Options |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Ignore Words In Uppercase |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Ignore Words That Contain Numbers |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Ignore Internet And File Addresses |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Flag Repeated Words |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Enforce Accented Uppercase In French |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Suggest From Main Dictionary Only |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-Custom Dictionaries |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Spelling-French Modes |
| Spelling | Proofing | When Correcting Spelling | Dictionary Language |
| File Format | Save | Save Workbooks | Save Files In This Format |
| AutoRecover | Save | Save Workbooks | Save AutoRecover Information Every n Minutes |
| AutoRecover Location | Save | Save Workbooks | AutoRecover File Location |
| Folder for Files | Save | Save Workbooks | Default File Location |
| AutoRecover Disable | Save | Autorecover Exceptions For | Disable AutoRecover For This Workbook Only |
| Server | Save | Offline Editing Options For Document Management Server Files | Save Checked-Out Files To The Server Drafts Location On This Computer |
| Server | Save | Offline Editing Options For Document Management Server Files | Save Checked-Out Files To The Web Server |
| Server | Save | Offline Editing Options For Document Management Server Files | Server Drafts Location |
| Color | Save | Preserve Visual Appearance | Choose What Colors Will Be Seen In Previous Versions Of Excel |
| Direction after Enter | Advanced | Editing | After Pressing Enter, Move Selection Direction |
| Decimal places | Advanced | Editing | Automatically Insert A Decimal Point With N Places |
| Fill Handle | Advanced | Editing | Enable Fill Handle And Cell Drag And Drop |
| Override alert | Advanced | Editing | Alert Before Overwriting Cells With Drag And Drop |
| In-cell editing | Advanced | Editing | Allow Editing Directly In Cell |
| Extend ranges | Advanced | Editing | Extend Data Range Formats And Formulas |
| Percentages | Advanced | Editing | Enable Automatic Percent Entry |
| AutoComplete | Advanced | Editing | Enable Autocomplete For Cell Values |
| Mouse Wheel | Advanced | Editing | Zoom On Roll With Intellimouse |
| Time Consuming Operation | Advanced | Editing | Alert The User When A Potentially Time Consuming Operation Occurs |
| Time Consuming Operation | Advanced | Editing | Time Consuming Is When This Number of Cells (In Thousands) Is Affected |
| Numeric separators | Advanced | Editing | Use System Separators |
| Numeric separators | Advanced | Editing | Decimal Separator |
| Numeric separators | Advanced | Editing | Thousands Separator |
| Paste | Advanced | Cut, Copy, And Paste | Show Paste Options Buttons |
| Insert | Advanced | Cut, Copy, And Paste | Show Insert Options Buttons |
| Images | Advanced | Cut, Copy, And Paste | Cut, Copy, And Sort Inserted Objects With Their Parent Cells |
| Recent File List | Advanced | Display | Show This Number of Recent Documents |
| Ruler | Advanced | Display | Ruler Units |
| Taskbar | Advanced | Display | Show All Windows In The Taskbar |
| Formula Bar | Advanced | Display | Show Formula Bar |
| Screentips | Advanced | Display | Show Function Screentips |
| Chart Elements | Advanced | Display | Show Chart Element Names On Hover |
| Chart Data Points | Advanced | Display | Show Data Point Values On Hover |
| Comment Display | Advanced | Display | For Cells With Comments, Show No Comments Or Indicators |
| Comment Display | Advanced | Display | For Cells With Comments, Show Indicators Only, And Comments On Hover |
| Comment Display | Advanced | Display | For Cells With Comments, Show Comment And Indicators |
| Scrollbarss | Advanced | Display-Workbook | Show Horizontal Scroll Bar (Affects one workbook only) |
| Scrollbars | Advanced | Display-Workbook | Show Vertical Scroll Bar (Workbook only) |
| Tabs | Advanced | Display-Workbook | Show Sheet Tabs (Workbook only) |
| Dates in AutoFilter | Advanced | Display-Workbook | Group Dates In The AutoFilter Menu (Workbook only) |
| Images, hide | Advanced | Display-Workbook | For Objects, Show Or Hide (Workbook only) |
| Column & row headers | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Show Row And Column Headers (Affects one worksheet only) |
| Formulas, Show | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Show Formulas In Cells Instead Of Their Calculated Results (Worksheet) |
| Page Breaks | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Show Page Breaks (Worksheet) |
| Zero, Display | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Show A Zero In Cells That Have Zero Value (Worksheet) |
| Outline Symbols | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Show Outline Symbols If An Outline Is Applied (Worksheet) |
| Gridlines | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Gridline Color (Worksheet) |
| Gridline Color | Advanced | Display-Worksheets | Gridline Color (Worksheet) |
| Multi-Threaded Calculation | Advanced | Formulas | Enable Multi-Threaded Calculation |
| Multi-Threaded Calculation | Advanced | Formulas | Number of Calculation Threads |
| Links, update | Advanced | When Calculating Workbook | Update Links To Other Documents |
| Precision as Displayed | Advanced | When Calculating Workbook | Set Precision As Displayed |
| Dates, 1904 system | Advanced | When Calculating Workbook | Use 1904 Date System |
| External Link Values | Advanced | When Calculating Workbook | Save External Link Values |
| Sound Feedback | Advanced | General | Provide Feedback With Sound |
| Animation Feedback | Advanced | General | Provide Feedback With Animation |
| DDE | Advanced | General | Ignore Other Applications That Use DDE |
| Links, update | Advanced | General | Ask To Update Automatic Links |
| Add-in errors | Advanced | General | Show Add-In User Interface Errors |
| Paper Size | Advanced | General | Scale Content for A4 or 8.5 x 11" Paper Sizes |
| Start-Up Folder | Advanced | General | At Start-Up, Open All Files |
| Web Options | Advanced | General | Web Options |
| Service Options | Advanced | General | Service Options |
| Menu Access Key | Advanced | Lotus Compatibility | Microsoft Office Excel Menu Key |
| Navigation Keys | Advanced | Lotus Compatibility | Transition Navigation Keys |
| Lotus Formula Evaluation | Advanced | Lotus For Worksheet | Lotus Transition Formula Evaluation |
| Lotus Formula Entry | Advanced | Lotus For Worksheet | Lotus Transition Formula Entry |
| QAT Location | Customization | N/A | Place Quick Access Toolbar Below The Ribbon |
| Add-Ins | Add-Ins | N/A | Manage Excel Add-Ins |
| Trust | Trust Center | N/A | Trust Center Settings |
| Updates | Resources | N/A | Check For Updates |
| Diagnose | Resources | N/A | Diagnose |
| Contact Microsoft | AResources | N/A | Contact Us |
| Activation | Resources | N/A | Activate |
| Registration | Resources | N/A | Register |
| About | Resources | N/A | About |