Opening a Workbook

If you open a workbook in Excel, the entire document loads into memory, and any changes that you make occur only in the copy that's in memory. To open an existing workbook, follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button and then choose Open to display the Open dialog box. Alternatively, press Ctrl+O or Ctrl+F12 to display the Open dialog box.
   Windows XP: In the Look In drop-down list, navigate to the folder that contains the document.
   Windows Vista: In the Folders window on the left side of the dialog box, navigate to the folder that contains the document. If the Folders window isn't displayed, click Folder.
2. Select the workbook in the selected folder and click Open, or double-click the filename.

You can select more than one document in the Open dialog box. The trick is to press and hold Ctrl while you click each document. After you select all the documents you want, click Open.

You can open a workbook you have worked with recently without navigating through the Open dialog box. On the right side of the Office menu, Excel provides a Recent Documents list. If the document that you want to open appears in this list, you can choose it directly from the menu.