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Word 2016 saving without prompting upon Close

Anonymous
2018-02-09T20:38:45+00:00

Lately, when I close Word after editing a document, I'm not prompted to save--the save happens automatically. This was occurring before because Automatically Save appeared on the QAT inexplicably. I unchecked Automatically Save and that seemed to resolve things, but the last few days, I edit, click Close, the file closes and saves. I always want to be prompted to save--sometimes I want to discard my edits. Does anyone know why this is happening? I included a screen shot of my Save Word Options. Also, when I went to review File History to recover a previous version (File, Version History, View and restore previous versions, there were none. I just retried that sequence, and now all previous versions are listed.

I also noted that in the title bar, immediately after I start editing a document "Saving" appears followed a little after by "Saved to OneDrive." (See screen shots.) At no time did I press Save. This inconsistent behavior is confusing and alarming since I definitely want control over what is saved and when. All suggestions appreciated. 

 

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-10T13:28:23+00:00

    I found my own answer:

    Click the list arrow to the right of the QAT, enable Automatically Save. From the QAT, set AutoSave to Off. When you exit Word, you will now be prompted to save changes. I also went back to Word Options to enable background saves. I also note that on some documents, AutoSave is dimmed on the QAT. And when I open some documents, AutoSave is still enabled, so evidently, adjusting the QAT in one document does not affect this feature in the QAT in other documents. Going forward, I'm just going to have to be very aware of this setting on the QAT and adjust the On/Off setting accordingly.

    Forum moderators need to help us by doing more research before posting incorrect advice.

    Note that in a new document, on the QAT, AutoSave, Off, is dimmed.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-10T12:58:24+00:00

    That's confusing. I DO want AutoRecover on so that I can recover a file via an *.asd file in case haven't saved and I'm in the middle of a document and Word crashes, for example. But I still want to have the option to save or to discard changes when I close a file. You're saying both of these choices are no longer possible? If I uncheck Save AutoRecover information every x minutes,  then Word will not be performing any background saves and a *.asd file will no longer be created? Or is there some other way to recover a document I have not saved and Word crashes?

    If I can no longer recover an unsaved document, that is an untenable position--I either take the chance of losing work if Word shuts down or I possibly have edits I don't want to save forced on me. Please, users need a choice! Why would Microsoft force this on us resulting in fewer choices in such an important feature? The option as they existed previously were much better. Also, I have Office 2016 and I'm an Office 365 subscriber. I'm always confused as to which version of Word I'm operating under.

    I just unchecked that option, closed and reopened the document, and the autosave still happened without my consent. I made a change, did not manually save, closed the document, and was not prompted to save. The edit was saved without my consent.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-10T09:46:35+00:00

    Hello,

    We appreciate your feedback regarding your experience when using any of your Office applications, and we'll make sure to take note of it.

    AutoSave is the new feature in Office 2016 for Office 365 subscribers. The said feature will help a lot of users who are losing data or files for forgetting to save it. But, in your case, you don't want the AutoSave to be turned on. However, if you are subscribed to any of the Office 365 plans, the option to disable it is currently not available. On the other hand, if you are not subscribed to any of the Office 365 plans. You can turn off AutoSave by following the steps below:

    1. Click on the File tab.
    2. Select Options.
    3. Choose Save.
    4. Uncheck the box beside Save AutoRecover information every _ minutes.

    If you wish to turn it back on, simply recheck the box.

    Hope this information helps you. In case you need further assistance, don't hesitate to post back.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2018-02-11T01:26:24+00:00

    Hi Doug--I'm not sure about your recommendation. Are you saying to open Word and then open a blank document? If so, the document opens with AutoSave dimmed on the QAT.

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  4. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-11T00:09:25+00:00

    Try opening the template(s) from which you are creating documents and uncheck that option and save the template.

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