Saving a Workbook with a Preview

When you use the Open dialog box in Excel, you can configure what you see in the dialog box. One of the settings you can make is for Excel to display a preview of whatever workbook you select in the left side of the dialog box. (Click on the drop-down arrow next to the Views tool, then choose Preview.)

You may have already noticed that some of your workbooks do not have a preview available in the Open dialog box. If this is the case, and you want to have a preview available, you need to make sure that the workbook is saved with the preview enabled. If the workbook is loaded in Excel, follow these general steps:

1. Choose Properties from the File menu. Excel displays the Properties dialog box for your workbook. (Displaying the dialog box in Excel 2007 is a bit more involved. Click the Office button, Prepare, and then Properties. This displays some of the properties just above the worksheet on the screen. You will need to click the Document Properties drop-down list and choose Advanced Properties.)
2. Make sure the Summary tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Select the Save Preview Picture check box at the bottom of the dialog box. (In Excel 2007 it is called the Save Thumbnails for All Excel Documents check box.)
4. Click on OK to close the Properties dialog box.
5. Click the Save tool on the toolbar, or choose Save from the File menu.

At this point you can close the workbook. Now when you display the Open dialog box, and you have the preview feature turned on, the workbook displays a preview in the dialog box.