Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 21, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When Sherman displays the Save As dialog box in Excel, the dialog box fills the whole screen. There is no apparent way to reduce the size of the dialog box, and this doesn't happen in other Office programs. Sherman wonders if there is a way to reduce the size of the Save As dialog box so that it only fills a portion of the screen.
Although there are no minimize, maximize, or restore buttons for dialog boxes, the four edges and corners of the dialog box should be "active." This means you should be able to hover the mouse pointer over one of these active areas and have it change to a double-headed arrow so you can click and drag the edge or corner. This will help you get the dialog box to just the size you want.
If the dialog box edges are too close to the edge of the screen, double-click the dialog box's title bar or click it once and drag the title bar down and to the right. This will allow you to get at the top and left edge or the top-left corner. You can then, once again, drag the edges or corner to make the dialog box smaller and more manageable.
When you resize the Save As dialog box in this manner, make sure that you actually save a file using the dialog box. If you instead do the resize and click Cancel, the new dialog box settings will be lost and you will need to resize again.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6470) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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