Excel lets you customize its interface, defaults, and behavior so it works the way you do.
From display and formatting tools to default fonts, themes, privacy controls, and language settings, the Excel Options dialog gives you fine-grained control over how the application looks and behaves. In this post, you’ll learn where to find Excel’s customization settings and how to adjust them to improve usability, reduce distractions, and streamline everyday work.
When you start using Excel, you’ll find it helpful to adjust the options in the Excel Options dialog under General.
The first setting under User Interface options deals with multiple monitors. If display issues arise, you can switch the default Optimize for best appearance setting to Optimize for compatibility.
The next option is Show Mini Toolbar on selection. When this setting is enabled, the most common formatting icons appear above selected text in a cell or the formula bar. This option doesn’t affect the context menu for selected cell ranges; you can’t disable the mini toolbar there.
If you need to, you can disable the button for the Quick Analysis tool mentioned earlier under Show Quick Analysis options on selection, but you can still access this feature by using the (Ctrl)+(Q) keyboard shortcut.
If you want to use advanced data types like stocks, enable Show Convert to Data Types when typing.
A useful feature is Enable Live Preview, which instantly shows how many settings―like color or font size―affect the selected area before you confirm your choice. However, some individuals might find the occasional screen flicker distracting, so they can disable the Enable Live Preview option here. You can also use the ScreenTip style option to control how screen tips appear for commands and options in the menu bar. You can choose detailed tips, brief tips, or no tips.
You can use the second group of options to set general defaults for new documents. Here, you can choose a default font and font size for data entry. Excel uses Aptos Light as the default font for headings and 11-point Aptos for body text. You can also choose whether to work by default in Normal view, Page Layout view, or Page Break Preview, and you can also set how many sheets a new workbook should include. These changes take effect only after you restart Excel.
Under Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office, you can enter the username that will automatically be added to the document properties as metadata. The Always use these values regardless of sign in to Office option lets you apply these settings regardless of whether you sign in with an Office.com account.
There are two more list boxes you can use to customize Excel’s appearance to your liking. The first, called Office Background, offers various designs that affect the header area of the application window. As mentioned earlier, this option is unavailable to local users.
Under Office Theme, you’ll find options that allow you to color the application background. The default option is Colorful, and other options are Dark Gray, Black, White, and Use system setting (which refers to Windows settings).
In the Privacy Settings, you can control how much diagnostic data Microsoft may collect while you work on your device. If you use the Microsoft-owned professional network LinkedIn, you can activate services that let you connect directly to LinkedIn from Excel. Under Home Options, you’ll find a Default Programs button that opens the Control Panel dialog, where you can assign or change file type associations for Excel. The Start Screen setting has already been mentioned, and you can disable the Show at startup option for this application there.
Under Language, Excel provides a dedicated page where you can select editing languages as alternatives to your primary language. To add a language, open the list box below the selected editing languages, pick the language you want, and click Add a Language. In the lower section, you can also choose which languages to prioritize for program displays and get help when multiple languages are available.
Customizing Excel helps you work faster, stay focused, and reduce friction in everyday tasks. By adjusting interface behavior, default workbook settings, appearance, privacy options, and language preferences, you can tailor Excel to match your workflow instead of adapting your workflow to Excel. Spending a few minutes exploring the Excel Options dialog can significantly improve comfort, efficiency, and long-term productivity.
Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Excel: The Comprehensive Guide by Helmut Vonhoegen. Helmut is a freelance author and IT consultant. He has published more than 80 books since 1992 and written numerous articles in specialist journals. His focus is Microsoft Office, Windows, web programming, and XML.
This post was originally published 11/2025.