Opening Excel and Creating a Workbook

Without a saved file, every budget figure disappears when you close Excel. NorthgateBudget.xlsx is the container for every lesson in this course.

James Okonkwo starts the new academic year by creating NorthgateBudget on the school laptop — one blank grid that will grow into the full department budget pack. The goal of this lesson is to open Excel, create that blank workbook, and save it with the correct name before typing a single figure.

Click the Start button (Windows) or open Launchpad (Mac). Type Excel in the search box and click Microsoft Excel in the results.

Expected result: Excel opens. You may see a start screen with templates or a blank workbook already on screen.

Click File on the Ribbon (top left), then New on the left. Click Blank workbook (or Blank Workbook on Mac).

Expected result: A fresh grid appears. Cell A1 is selected. The title bar may say Book1 until you save.

Excel offers budget templates on the start screen. This course builds NorthgateBudget.xlsx from scratch so you learn every step — headers, formulas, and print area included.

Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (Mac) — or click File → Save. Choose a folder (e.g. Documents or a Northgate folder on the school network). In File name, type NorthgateBudget and click Save.

Expected result: The title bar shows NorthgateBudget.xlsx. Excel adds .xlsx automatically. Type NorthgateBudget only — do not include the extension in the file name box.

If Save is greyed out, type a file name first.

James Okonkwo saves NorthgateBudget.xlsx immediately after creating the blank workbook — before entering a single figure. If Excel crashes mid-lesson, the file name and location are already set.

Press Ctrl+S / Cmd+S after every major step: renaming sheets, entering data, adding formulas.

A common mistake is typing five departments of budgets but never renaming Book1. Colleagues open the wrong file from a shared drive. Save as NorthgateBudget in the first minute and check the title bar before you type data.

On Microsoft 365, AutoSave may appear in the title bar when the file is on OneDrive. For this course, manual Ctrl+S after each lesson is enough.