Workspace File

An Excel workspace file (.xlw) has nothing to do with Shared Workspaces which is a SharePoint feature.

There will be times when you need to work on multiple workbooks at the same time and has the file extension (".xlw").
The term workspace refers to all the open workbooks and their exact screen position and window sizes.
A workspace file does not include the actual workbooks.
There may be times when you need to open workbooks simultaneously.
You can save all the open workbooks as a workspace to be opened another time.
This saves all the open workbooks plus their present location on the screen

A workspace contains pointers to your other Excel files that you had open during your session.
When you open an Excel workspace all the other files are opened as well
Workspaces are particularly useful if you frequently work with the same set of files and need to have them all open at once.

The term workspace refers to a group of workbooks inclusing there exact screen position and window size.

Enables you to have multiple workbooks showing simultaneously and to have a customised view of those workbooks arranged in different windows.

You may have a project that uses two or more workbooks and you might want to always have the workbooks arranged in a particular way.
It is possible to save this arrangement as a workspace.
You can then open the workspace at a later date and Excel will display the workbooks exactly as they were saved.

Arrange your workbooks (or windows) accordingly
If you think you might want to return to this view you can save this perferred view as a workspace.
You can return your windows to the full screen by double clicking on any of the blue title bars.
This is especially useful if you are constantly looking at the same workbooks.

A workspace is the name used to describe the snapshot of your current Excel workbooks. When you save a workspace ??
It is possible to store this configuration and open it as a single file. This will prevent you have to open each individual workbook one after the other.
The configuration of multiple workbooks is called a Workspace.

Saving a Workspace

Open all the workbooks which you want to include in your workspace.
(File > Save Workspace)
SS
use the default file name

If you enter a different name make sure that "Workspaces (".xlw") is selected from the "save as type" drop-down box.
When you save a workspace all the currently open workbooks are saved
The filename that is suggested is "Resume.xlw" although this can obviously be changed.

What is saved in a Workspace ?

A workspace file does not include the actual workbooks.
It only includes references to the workbooks that it needs to recreate the workspace.
This includes the file names and the folder locations.
If you distribute a workspace file to a colleague, make sure they can access all the relevant workbooks.

Important

The file extension may not always appear. This will depend on your Windows Explorer settings. If you always want your file extensions to be displayed select (Tools > Folder Options)(View tab, "Hide extensions for known file types") and make sure this is not checked.