Setting Your Default Directory

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 18, 2023)

Normally, Excel starts looking for spreadsheets in the directory in which you started the program. Typically this is your directory. If you want to change the default directory path, you can do so in the following manner:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. You will see the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the General tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The General tab of the Options dialog box.

  3. Change the Default File Location box to reflect the path of the directory you want to use as the default for your Excel files.
  4. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2632) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Formatting Footnote and Endnote References

Depending on whom you are writing for, you may want your footnote and endnote references to appear a specific way. Word ...

Discover More

Converting Radians to Degrees

When applying trigonometry to the values in a worksheet, you may need to convert radians to degrees. This is done by ...

Discover More

Determining Font Formatting

If you need to determine the font applied to a particular cell, you’ll need to use a macro. This tip presents several ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Moving from Sheet to Sheet with the Keyboard

Hate to take your fingers off the keyboard? Here's how you can move from worksheet to worksheet without touching the mouse.

Discover More

Arranging Workbook Windows

If you find yourself working with a number of different workbooks at the same time, you may want to arrange your desktop ...

Discover More

Disappearing Toolbar Buttons for Macros

One of the important configuration files for Excel is known as the XLB file. You should periodically make backups of this ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 3 + 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.