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Change Display of Excel 2016 personal template thumbnails

Anonymous
2016-08-10T03:26:03+00:00

Excel 2016 displays custom personal templates as oversized thumbnails with no detail of the templates contents (name is below).

On the other hand, "featured" templates are displayed as a picture of the template.

Is there any way to have personal templates display a picture of the contents as well/

If that feature is not feasible, is it possible to display personal excel templates as a list rather than oversized thumbnails?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-05-25T00:42:40+00:00

    Use "Save As" to save the Excel file as a normal Excel file and tick the "Save Thumbnail option".

    If option not available see File - Properties - Advanced Options - Summary - "Save Thumbnail for All Excel Documents".

    Then save your file as a template.

    I am hoping to discover how the Thumbnail would show a page, currently shows the top 7 rows.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-18T12:22:04+00:00
    <br>I have checked this out for Excel 2016 but the process is similar.<br><br><br><br>First, the thumbnail is generated and part of the file. There is no official process. A description for brave Office pros is shown below.<br><br><br>* * <br><br><br><br>You can do this:<br><br><br><br>First, close Excel!<br><br><ol><br><li><br>Get to the location of your template</li><li><br>Make a copy</li><li><br>Rename the file extension to <em>.zip</em></li><li><br>Unzip the file into a new folder using the Windows Zip utility</li><li><br>Search the tree of files for a file called <em>thumbnail.wmf</em></li><li><br>Open PowerPoint and create an empty presentation</li><li><br>Use the function "Insert an Image" and add the <em>thumbnail.wmf</em> to the slide</li><li><br>Remove everything else from the slide</li><li><br>Try to ungroup - it fails with a message asking to convert to a drawing object</li></ol><br><br><br>From here you have two options. Either convert, ungroup, change and proceed or throw away and create a new image from scratch.<br><br><ol><br><li><br>Work on image and group your image (the old or a new one), then</li><li><br>Right click on the grouped image and click "Save as picture"</li><li><br>Choose the filetype "wmf" and name it the same as before and overwrite the existing <em>thumbnail.wmf</em></li><li><br>Go INTO the folder using Windows Explorer of unpacked files, hit Ctrl-A (Select All)</li><li><br>Right click and say "Send to" --> "Compressed (zipped) folder". Give it a new name.</li><li><br>Hit F2 to rename the file</li><li><br>Remove the file extension <em>.zip</em></li></ol><br><br><br>Now, open Excel!<br><br><br><br>Hit "New", "Personal" and you see your template with your custom image in full width and height. Repeat steps 10 to 16 until you're satisfied.<br><br><br> * *<br><br><br><br>Drawbacks: Once you edit your file in excel and save as template with thumbnails option (advanced properties) switched on, Excel will overwrite your custom wmf-file. You have to repeat the steps "Unpack -> Replace File -> Pack" every time.<br><br><br><br>I'll post an update once I found a better solution.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-09T20:16:54+00:00

    At the bottom of the Save As dialog box there is a check box for 'Save Thumbnail' that will capture a partial view of your spreadsheet and display it in the Template preview.  In Excel the thumbnail is seems to only be displayed landscape mode and in Word it only seems to be displayed in portrait mode.

    I am still trying to figure out in excel how to get the thumbnail to display something more interesting that the upper left hand corner of my spread sheet.

    Be aware that the excel remembers the check box is selected the nest time you do a save as unless you want all of your spread sheets to have thumbnails.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-10T13:02:37+00:00

    Article provided covers the creation of excel 2016 templates.

    I do not have a problem with that process.  I already have numerous custom templates available for use in my Personal folder.

    The problem is those templates are displayed as identical, oversized thumbnails (they do have a name below each thumbnail).

    When accessing the Personal Folder you have to scan and scroll to find and select the template you need to use.

    It would be much easier and quicker if the oversized identical thumbnails were able to display a picture of the template - as happens in the "featured" templates folder.  Is this possible?   If so, how can it be achieved?

    If it is not possible to display a picture of the templates, is it possible to show them in a simple alphabetical list?

    How can this be achieved?

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-08-10T08:27:55+00:00

    Hi Paul,

    I understand that you are using Excel 2016 and want to make certain changes in templates.

    As per your query, please refer to the following article and check if it helps in resolving your query:

    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-template-86A1D089-5AE2-4D53-9042-1191BCE57DEB

    Please post to us if you need any further assistance and we will assist you.

    Thank you.

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