What initial action must be taken to add a new trusted location in Excel?

To add a new trusted location in Excel, the initial action is to navigate to the Options in the backstage view. When you go to the Options, you can access various settings, including those related to security. Specifically, within the Options, there is a section for Trust Center, which allows you to manage settings related to security and privacy for Excel files.

After reaching the Options menu, you would then go into the Trust Center Settings, where you can specify trusted locations. This process is critical for ensuring that Excel recognizes specific folders as safe, allowing files stored there to bypass certain security prompts.

Accessing the Developer Tab, while useful for other tasks related to macros or add-ins, is not the correct first step for managing trusted locations. Similarly, while the View tab is involved in layout and display options, it doesn’t pertain to security settings. Opening the Trust Center Settings directly is an important step, but it follows the navigation through the Options menu. Thus, starting from the Options in the backstage view is essential for accessing the necessary setting to add a trusted location.