I don't see a significant difference between .xlt and .xls either.
In fact, if I create a "template", lots of times, it's just a normal excel file
(.xls) that I've marked readonly in Windows explorer.
Then most users won't be able to write over it and they'll have to save it as a
new name.
Other differences between .xlt and .xls is how windows/excel acts when you
double click on each in windows explorer.
The (usual) default action for .xls is Open. So excel will just open the
workbook to edit it.
The (usual) default action for .xlt is New. So excel will create a new workbook
based on that template.
But if you rightclick on either type, you could explicitly choose the one you
want.
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And one more thing about a template: You can tell in code if it's ever been
saved (there's no path). But you could work around that with a .xls (check for
readonly (say) in my example).
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But there are two templates that may be useful to you.
Book.xlt and sheet.xlt (both located in your XLStart folder. When you click the
New Icon, the new workbook will inherit all the stuff in book.xlt.
If you add a new sheet to an existing workbook, it'll inherit all the nice
things in sheet.xlt.
(Those are the only two templates that I really care about.)
