Excel 2013 For Dummies
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To access File Open options in Excel 2013, use the drop-down button attached to the Open command button located at the bottom of the Open dialog box. These options enable you to open the selected workbook file(s) in a special way, including:

  • Open Read-Only: This command opens the files you select in the Open dialog box’s list box in a read-only state, which means that you can look but you can’t touch. (Actually, you can touch; you just can’t save your changes.) To save changes in a read-only file, you must use the Save As command (File→Save As or Alt+FA) and give the workbook file a new filename.

  • Open as Copy: This command opens a copy of the files you select in the Open dialog box. Use this method of opening files as a safety net: If you mess up the copies, you always have the originals to fall back on.

  • Open in Browser: This command opens workbook files you save as web pages in your favorite web browser. This command isn’t available unless the program identifies that the selected file or files were saved as web pages rather than plain old Excel workbook files.

  • Open in Protected View: This command opens the workbook file in Protected View mode that keeps you from making any changes to the contents of its worksheets until you click the Enable Editing button that appears in the orange Protected View panel at the top of the screen.

  • Open and Repair: This command attempts to repair corrupted files before opening them. When you select this command, a dialog box gives you a choice between attempting to repair the corrupted file or opening the recovered version, extracting data from the file, and placing in a new workbook. Click the Repair button to attempt to recover. Click the Extract Data button if Excel was unsuccessful in repairing the file.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Greg Harvey, PhD, is President of Mind Over Media, an online media company. He has written all editions of Excel For Dummies, Excel All-in-One For Dummies, and Excel Workbook For Dummies. Greg is an experienced educator with a wide variety of interests.

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