Powerpoint Autosave when in area with no internet?

How do you enable 'Autosave' for powerpoint, word, excel for files stored on your local hard-drive.  I recently lost a lot of work, as I assumed that files were being autosaved, (as has been the case for many years before I moved to Office365).

Hi MS_2170,

I understand your frustration, however, currently there is no such a feature which could replace the functionality of the AutoSave.

If you are going to work for a long time with no network connection, I am afraid there is no other way but to save your documents regularly to avoid the protentional data loss scenarios.

You could also submit your feedback to the related product team by clicking on the smile face.

How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?

Regards,

Alex Chen

Hi Alex,

Thanks for you response but this is a major step backwards on behalf of Microsoft!!  I know you are trying to force everyone to use 'one drive' but even not everyone is always connected, therefore why the change?  I travel a lot for work, 80-90% out of my home country so often I don't have internet access, till I get to the hotel at night.  So what am I meant to do?  Risk loosing my work each time I use a Microsoft product?  As asked what is the alternative?  

Thank you,

MS

Hi MS_2170,

Thanks for your query in this community. Really sorry to hear that.

As you have mentioned, the AutoSave function require the Files to be saved in the cloud storage, OneDrive/SharePoint Online. Every action you have made to your presentation will be synced to the cloud at the same time, so during this procedure, it will generate several different copies in the online storage. By default, the presentation you can see in the OneDrive or SharePoint will reflect the last action you have made on this file.

The other copies generated will also be recorded as history version, in case you want to retrieve the older version of this file. 

What is AutoSave?

Restore a previous version of a file in OneDrive

As the core part of this function depends on the cloud environment, so it's not feasible to enable the AutoSave function when you don't have access to a stable network. We are sorry about the inconvenience.

In case if you are working disconnected, and suffer from the unexpected application crash. You could try searching the documents in the AutoRecovery folder 

Recover your Office files

You will be able to configure the Auto Recover settings in PowerPoint >File >Options >Save.

Note: If you have enable the AutoSave function, the file copy in the Auto Recover folder will be cleared.

We greatly appreciate your time and understanding.

Regards,

Alex Chen

"Autosave" as a feature name is tricky.

Recently, just this year, MS added an "Autosave" feature to the QAT of the applications you mentioned. But it is LIMITED to files saved on OneDrive.  It is a real time "auto save", which is not so good for "what if" work, espeially in Excel.

For locally saved files your native options are more limited. There is a "save backup" when file is first opened. There is a "timed backup" that creates a ASD file every x minutes, which are deleted when application is closed normally.

(Although many of these tips are written in the context of Word, they can also apply to Excel and PPT)

Helping You Recover Your Work in Office 2010 – Autorecover ****http://blogs.technet.com/b/office2010/archive/2009/09/22/helping-you-recover-your-work-in-office-2010.aspx

Have you ever closed Word after making a bunch of changes, and then accidently clicked ‘No’ when asked if you want to save your changes?  Then you suddenly realized what you have done, only to find that there was no way to recover your work?  You are not alone.  In fact, so many people were in similar situations that we improved Office 2010 so you can get that document back!  We call this feature Versions and I would like to spend a little time introducing it to you.

Beyond that you have to use 3rd party tools, that generally use macros, or you can DIY macros.

! Remember 3-2-1 to have good backups·          at LEAST 3 copies of any file,

·          at LEAST 2 different storage mediums (say on your hard drive plus at least one of the following: thumb drive, external disk drive, DVD or the cloud),

·          at LEAST 1 copy offsite—in case of fire etc!  (ie the “cloud” meets this requirement, so does using a thumb drive moved to a different building, or a server in a different building)

Steve Gibson

Here are some articles about autosave from MS and others

@autosave- How AutoSave impacts add-ins and macros    01/01/2019

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/library-reference/concepts/how-autosave-impacts-addins-and-macros

Learn about how AutoSave works in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, and how it can impact add-ins or macros. When a file is hosted in the cloud (that is, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online), AutoSave enables the user's edits to be saved automatically and continuously. When the file is shared with others, their changes are merged into this user's version of the file. If AutoSave is turned off, save must be triggered manually for the user's changes to be persisted in the cloud and for this user to receive others' changes. Currently, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint provide a BeforeSave event that allows a developer to execute code after the user triggers a save but before the save occurs.

@autosave-Restore a previous version of a file in OneDrive – not limited to 365 “Autosave” Featurehttps://support.office.com/en-us/article/restore-a-previous-version-of-a-file-in-onedrive-159cad6d-d76e-4981-88ef-de6e96c93893

With online version history, you can see and restore older versions of all your files in your OneDrive. Version history works with all file types, including PDFs, CAD files, photos, and videos. If you need to, you might be able to restore deleted OneDrive files or restore deleted SharePoint items from the recycle bin.

@autosave-View previous versions of Office fileshttps://support.office.com/en-us/article/view-previous-versions-of-office-files-5c1e076f-a9c9-41b8-8ace-f77b9642e2c2

Microsoft Office automatically saves versions of your SharePoint, OneDrive, and OneDrive for Business files while you’re working on them. These versions allow you to look back and understand how your files evolved over time and allow you to restore older versions in case you have made a mistake.

.  *  If the file you want to restore isn't already open

.  *  If you want to restore a file you have open in the app

.  *  To restore a prior version

A Real AutoSave

http://wordribbon.tips.net/T010361_A_Real_AutoSave.html 

When you enable AutoSave in Word, it doesn't really save your document; it just saves a temporary file that allows your document to be recovered if the program should end unexpectedly. If you want to really save your document periodically, you need to develop your own macro-based system, as described in this tip.

Autohistory for Word 2007 / 2010, Excel 2010 (Version Control)

https://autohistory.codeplex.com/

Creates a Date&Timestamped copy of file every time you perform a normal Save. You can access any of the older versions. It creates a folder for each document affected. You have to the option of creating a single “universal” backup location.  The History is located in a NEW GROUP on the View Tab.

Note: I (ROHN007) have used this tool in the past. It worked fine for me then, but I have not tested it with recent versions of Word

Automatic backup Word documentshttp://www.gmayor.com/automatically\_backup.htm

<snip> Contrary to popular opinion, Word has no integral means of automatically saving the current document, nor of backing-up the current document. What it does have is an option to save AutoRecover information after a specific and configurable interval and an option to save a backup copy of the previously saved version of the document with the default file extension of WBK (and although there is no reason to do so, Word also allows the option to change this extension to the user’s choice). This is not a true backup in as much as it is not a copy of the current version of the document.

A function to create a true automatic backup is provided by the **Save In Two Places add-in which is detailed in a separate page**, There is also available from this web site a complementary add-in which provides numbered versions of a document. **Again that has its own web page.**

</snip>

Automatically Saving Your Work Frequentlyhttp://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710&seqNum=2

Setting the AutoRecover interval to 1 minute, as described in the previous section, is probably good enough for most people. However, a fast typist can easily write dozens of wordsin a minute, so you can still lose a fair amount of work even when using the shortest AutoRecover interval. To get an even faster save interval, you can use VBA, specifically, Word’s OnTime method, which runs a procedure at a specified time.

Making Backups as You Workhttp://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710&seqNum=5

Even if you're using the macros earlier in the chapter to save your work frequently, you can still lose data if your hard drive crashes. So we've all learned from hard experience not only to save our work regularly, but also to make periodic backup copies. The macro I use most often in Word is one that does both in a single procedure! That is, the macro not only saves your work, but it also makes a backup copy on another drive, such as a removable disk, a second hard drive, or a network folder. Listing 3.5 shows the code.

Autosave-http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/two-quick-time-saving-tips/****AutoSaver is a free application that autosaves files from applications you designate. You can download it here. Basically, you select your apps and then at what frequency you want to save. Or you can set it to autosave every app with some exceptions. Pretty simple.

Save numbered versions add-ins for Word and Excel 2007 2010

http://www.gmayor.com/SaveVersionsAdd-In.htm

With the document open on screen (whether or not it has already been saved) click the Save Numbered Version button. The naming information is stored in document variables. The first time you do this for a given document sequence, the variables will not be present. The function will therefore prompt for the document type. This can be one of the four pre-defined types of any other type entered into the dialog. The rest of the variables will be defined from the document filename and the current date.

Save Dated & numbered Backup versions of a document.http://www.gmayor.com/save\_numbered\_versions.htm

Sometimes when working with Word documents, you may wish to save numbered (and dated) versions of the document for future reference.