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Default "Save As" location in Microsoft Office on a Mac

Anonymous
2019-02-28T15:24:52+00:00

When I open a file in Microsoft Office on my Mac, I typically do a "Save As" to append a version number to the file name.  However, by default the "Save As" location is NOT the folder where I opened the file (which is typical behavior in Microsoft Office on Windows...and for that matter any other application on the Mac).  Instead, the default folder is the location of the last file I SAVED in Microsoft Office.  This is extremely annoying, not typical or desired behavior, and is both baffling to me as to why it does this or how I can change to the expected behavior (if open file XYZ from folder ABC, the default "Save As" folder should be ABC).  This is literally annoying to the point that I'm ready to just ditch Microsoft Office on a Mac and move to Pages / Numbers / Keynote.  If anyone knows how to change (or why Microsoft is using this approach) please help me...

Mac OS:  Mojave 10.14.3

Microsoft Office for Mac:  Version 16.22

Posting this to Office -> Word -> Mac topic, though the issue happens to be the same across all Office products (Excel and Powerpoint).

Note, I do use OneDrive, though I just work from local directories and let OneDrive sync to the cloud.

Also note, I posted this question to a Mac forum, and everyone insisted this is a Microsoft issue as the setting for the "Save As" dialog are set by the program you are using (and I confirmed in applications like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote the behavior is correct i.e. as desired and done everywhere else...the default "Save As" is the folder where you opened the file).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-11-08T18:28:21+00:00

    It appears I MAY have fixed the problem... I just turned off "Files-on-demand" and "File Collaboration" in my OneDrive preferences and "Save As" defaults to the current file's directory instead of the directory that I most recently saved to.

    Can anyone else experiencing this problem confirm that this works as a fix?

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  1. John Korchok 231.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2019-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

    Rena left out some details. She's referring to the hidden Library folder in your user folder. To open it, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Go menu and choose Library. Look inside the window that opens for the folders she cited.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-25T21:49:37+00:00

    Hi JMSChicago,

    Do you still have this problem? As we can't reproduce the issue, you can check the video I sent and provide us more information below:

    1. Does the issue only happen to file stored in your OneDrive local sync folder?
    2. What's your OneDrive version?

    Thanks,

    Rena

    Hi

    Not sure if the OP has, but we certainly have!

    Yes we are using OneDrive sync.

    So if we open a Word file from a particular location - let's say folder AA, modify it and then select Save As, the default location to save the modified file will be the last location used to FILE something - not folder AA.

    A real problem for us, and is resulting in important documents being misfiled!!

    Surely it must be possible to change this default behaviour?

    We use Office 365 on Macs. So we don't have an "Office" button to click on - noticed this suggested elsewhere!!

    Thanks,

    Noel.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2019-08-19T14:01:53+00:00

    Hi Bryan,

    When you remove those files, the behavior is changed. It seems the save as location is affected by those files. I would suggest you remove them again to the desktop, and refer to John’s suggestion to click “On my Mac” button, then check whether it shows the correct local location for you.

    Thanks,

    Rena

    That's the whole POINT. I don't want to have to click any buttons. It should automatically select as the default the initial "Save As" location as the folder in which the original document resides, not some online location, nor the "last save" folder destination. 

    This completely breaks the way that MS Word/Excel have worked since the 1990s. I have used Word since it was first introduced to the market as part of Windows 3.1. This is ridiculous. Saving a document now requires 3 clicks to save it to the destination where 90% of people will want to save it. Before simple typing cmd opt s would pop up a dialog and the initial destination would be the folder in which the open document resides. Now that dialog box shows the folder in which a document (*any* document) was last saved. This makes no sense and is user-hostile.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. John Korchok 231.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2019-02-28T23:08:18+00:00

    This is a OneDrive bug (or maybe they think it's a feature), not a Word issue. You should be able to instantly fix it by signing out of your Microsoft account. At least that works here, Word goes back to normal Save As operation.

    My personal theory is that this is a design decision to ensure that cloud documents stay in the cloud or cloud folder. But who knows with MS.

    To report your annoyance with this, please click on the small smiley-face icon in the upper right corner of the program window. Choose Tell Us What Can Be Better and describe the problem in detail. If, by then, you have found that this issue disappears when disconnected from OneDrive, include that information as well.

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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