How to Close all Excel Files at once instantly – Excel Efficiency Tip

One of the improvements from Excel 2013 is every excel file opens in a new window. This feature is handy to quickly compare the data in different workbooks.  However the issue comes with closing the workbooks at once. In previous versions of excel you can use Alt+F4 to close multiple excel files at once. This shortcut will not work in Excel 2013. Each window has its close button and if you have multiple excel files open you need to close it individually which is tedious and also irritating. In this post we will see how to close multiple excel files at once with a single click.

2 ways to close all excel files

• Adding the Close all option to Quick Access Tool bar (QAT)
• With a keyboard shortcut.

Using Quick Access Tool Bar (QAT)

To add the close all option to Quick Access Tool Bar follow the below steps.

Suggested Read : Read / Know more about Quick Access Tool Bar. How to Add or Remove options to Quick Access Tool Bar.

Go to More Commands option in QAT.

Select / Choose Commands not in the Ribbon. From the list choose Close All and click on ADD and click ok.

Now you can see the close all option added to the QAT. Just click on it to close all your Excel files at once.

Alt key followed by the option number will be the shortcut for close all option in QAT.

Keyboard Shortcut

• Press the Shift key and click on close(X) button of any window.
• This opens a Dialog box with an additional option of “Save All” (See the below image).
• Choose your option and all the files get closed instantly.

Suggested Read – Read below articles on more excel tips for multiple files

• Do same action across multiple sheets
• Opening Same instance of excel file in multiple windows
• Select / go to specific sheet in a workbook directly.

Hope you find this Excel Tip useful. Please share your opinions below in the comment box

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