1.

 To begin, start Excel 2003 and choose File->File Search from the menu bar to display the Search task pane

The goal in this exercise is to find a missing Excel worksheet. The Only Information you have, is that the worksheet contains data concerning financial forecasts for a small company. You also know that the file is located in a specific folder (for the purposes of the exercise, your Excel 2003 Practice folder).

2.

 To begin, you could take a guess at what kind of text might be in such a file. A worksheet that deals with financial forecasts is likely to contain the word income, so the next step is to type income into the Search text: field.

Next, since you know what folder the file is in, specify Excel 2003 Practice by putting a check mark beside the appropriate folder in the Search in drop list. If there are check marks for every location, you can easily clear them by removing the checkmarks from the My Computer check box, and the My Network Places checkbox. Once you have all of the checkboxes removed, use the (+) expand buttons and the (-) collapse buttons to find the Excel 2003 Practice folder. When you find it, put a check mark next to it.

The file search task pane should look something like this.

Click the go button to start the search.

3.

Here are the search results for your first search attempt.

 These three files contain the word income either in the title, the file properties, or in the file content.

It would be easy to examine the content of each of these three files, but for practice, you will continue to narrow your search until you only get one file in the search results.

Click the modify button to display the Basic search options again.

4.

In the Basic File Search task pane, type the word forecast into the Search text: field.

Since you still want to look for the file in the Excel 2003 Practice folder, do not change

The configuration of the checkmark in the Search in drop list.

The task pane should look this.

Click the Go button when you are ready.

5.

You should now see the following search results.

If you move your mouse pointer over the Excel file icon, a drop list will be available.

Select Edit with Microsoft Excel from the list, or just single click on the file icon.

You have found the file. Experiment with the Excel search features to see what kind of searches you can come up with.