Sets the 'global' general settings for Excel.

R1C1 reference style

Users in excel generally use A1 notation as this is the default setting. It can also operate in R1C1 mode using row and column numbers, so A1 is R1C1 in that notation.  This setting will change any formulas to R1C1 notation and the column headers from letters to numbers, like so: (The Formula was =SUM($A$1:$B$1), a relative version of that formula, (=SUM(A1:B1)), would look like this, =SUM(RC[-2]:RC[-1]), with no number against the row, if I copy this formula down it will always refer to the same row and sum the cells 2 to it's left (-2) and the cell 1 to it's left (-1)).

Ignore other applications

Disconnects Excel from any applications that request data by DDE. (Dynamic Data Exchange). In normal use this should be un-checked.  Checking it causes Excel to look for other applications making it slow to open and often not to open at all. If you find you can open a workbook from File>Open, but cannot open one by double-clicking it, this is often the issue.

Function tooltips

Introduced in Excel XP these are tooltips that appear when you type a function into a cell, giving you a guide as to the expected parameters for that particular function. The name of the function, in the tooltip, is also a hyperlink to help on that function, (see below).

Recently used file list

Also call the MRU (Most Recently Used). This is the list of files recently opened in Excel. Un-checking this will remove the MRU list totally, checking it allows you to select the number of entries to show up to a maximum of 9 (Default is 4).

Prompt for workbook properties

Forces Excel to show the built-in and custom properties dialog when the workbook is first saved.

Provide feedback with sound

Requires a sound add-in to be loaded, but then gives extra sounds when certain actions are taken. The add-in can be downloaded here

Zoom on roll with IntelliMouse

The default setting when using a wheel mouse is to scroll the worksheet up and down. Checking this changes this behaviour to zooming in and out.

Sheets in new workbook:

Excel ships with a default of 3 worksheets in each workbook you open.  You can change this here to any whole number from 1 to 255

Standard font:

Sets the default font name and size for Excel. You will need to close and re-open Excel after setting this for it to take effect.

Default file location:

Enter the full path here of the folder that you normally save Excel files to. Excel will always start at this folder when first attempting to open or save a new file. It has no effect on files that you have opened which are not new as these default to there original location.

At start-up, open all files in: (Used to be Alternate start-up folder)

THIS SHOULD NORMALLY BE EMPTY!!!! Excel by default open all files in a special folder called xlStart which is setup when you install Excel. Everything that is in xlStart, such as book.xlt or personal.xls will be opened with Excel...that's fine. You should only use this box when for example, the start-up folders are held on a network drive, this way you could change this on user machines and they will have a backed-up, admin controlled repository for these files.

User name:

The name of the user which is used in some default areas, such as comments.