6 ways to open an Excel workbook

Excel 2016 2013 2010 2007 2003
The Open dialog box is your key to finding and retrieving Excel workbooks.

To display the Open dialog box, perform any of the following actions within Excel:

  • On the File tab, click Open:
    Recently used workbooks in Excel 365
  • Click the Open Open  button on the Quick Access Toolbar (if this button is visible).

    To add this button in the Quick Access Toolbar, see Adding commands to the Quick Access Toolbar.

  • Click a document's link in the Getting Started task pane.
  • Press Ctrl+O.

On the Open pane:

  • On the left side, select the location of the document you want to open (click Browse to open the Open dialog box).
  • On the right side, choose the file.

To display the Open dialog box, click one of the following shortcuts:

  • Press Ctrl+F12.
  • Press Alt+Ctrl+F2.

See also Opening workbooks automatically.

See also this tip in French: 6 façons d’ouvrir un classeur Excel.

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