AutoSave not working as before.

Question

I have been using AutoSave on Excel and Word documents ever since it was available. I save the documents to OneDrive. AutoSave has been working OK. Just recently I noticed that AutoSave was not on. I tried to turn it on and got the message AutoSave isn’t available. We couldn’t save your file automatically due to your privacy settings. To avoid losing your changes, please save the file using File > Save.

I have not changed the privacy settings in over a year. They are still probable at the default settings. What has changed preventing AutoSave and how do I fix it?

Answer 1

Hi John,

Greetings for the day!

Thanks for posting the query here and we are glad to help you regarding the word Autosave issue.

To turn AutoSave on, save your file to your OneDrive folder from within your Office app. Once you referred this option, Auto save will be enabled by default.

1. Go to File then Save As.
2. Select your OneDrive cloud personal, work or school account.
3. Choose your sub-folder from the list that appears.
4. Enter a file name and select Save

Please look into following link for additional information.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-turn-on-autosave-dbd19b49-ff3a-48f5-8294-671e33a6712c

Also verify following thread from Microsoft support to enable auto save option for Office applications.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/enable-auto-save-in-word/5f834a0b-ecc3-4686-a279-8ff133cfe89d

To verify your privacy settings, please verify this link.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/view-my-privacy-options-in-microsoft-office-a7797380-8a24-4404-aebb-079062b708f0

For detailed information about "Autosave" option, Kindly look into following link.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-is-autosave-6d6bd723-ebfd-4e40-b5f6-ae6e8088f7a5

Kindly get back to us if you face any other issue further.

--If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer--

Thank you!

Answer 2

Hi John,

Greetings for the day!

Thanks for posting the query here and we are glad to help you regarding the word Autosave issue.

To turn AutoSave on, save your file to your OneDrive folder from within your Office app. Once you referred this option, Auto save will be enabled by default.

1. Go to File then Save As.
2. Select your OneDrive cloud personal, work or school account.
3. Choose your sub-folder from the list that appears.
4. Enter a file name and select Save

Please look into following link for additional information.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-turn-on-autosave-dbd19b49-ff3a-48f5-8294-671e33a6712c

Also verify following thread from Microsoft support to enable auto save option for Office applications.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/enable-auto-save-in-word/5f834a0b-ecc3-4686-a279-8ff133cfe89d

To verify your privacy settings, please verify this link.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/view-my-privacy-options-in-microsoft-office-a7797380-8a24-4404-aebb-079062b708f0

For detailed information about "Autosave" option, Kindly look into following link.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-is-autosave-6d6bd723-ebfd-4e40-b5f6-ae6e8088f7a5

Kindly get back to us if you face any other issue further.

--If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer--

Thank you!

Ravi,

I looked at the links you sent and tried everything. I could not find any privacy setting that seemed to have anything to do with AutoSave.

Could you tell me which setting, in particular, prevents AutoSave from working?

Answer 3

I keep getting the message: "We couldn’t save your file automatically due to your privacy settings." This is even when I create a new Word or Excel file and save it to OneDrive.

What privacy setting is keeping me from AutoSave?

It worked fine a month ago (or less). I have not changed any privacy setting.

Answer 4

Hi JohnAS20,

I’m Jung one of the Independent Advisor and I’d be happy to help you out with your question.

AutoSave not working in Excel, Word or PowerPoint
Here are the methods to fix if the Auto Save feature is not working in Microsoft Office programs like Excel, Word or PowerPoint. While we may have talked about Excel here, the procedure is the same for other Office programs too.

Ensure that the AutoSave feature is enabled
Older formats not supported
Fix corrupted file
Resave Office Temp files
Repair/Reinstall Office.
1] Check if the AutoSave feature is enabled

The first thing you should check is that the AutoSave feature is not disabled in Excel. If it is disabled, your Excel files and data won’t be saved automatically.

You can enable it from the top of the toolbar. There you will see an AutoSave button that you have to turn on to make sure to save data automatically to your OneDrive account.

Alternately, you can also go to the File > Options menu, and from the Save tab, enable AutoSave and other related configurations.

You also need to enable Save AutoRecover information every specified minute and enter the auto recover interval. Plus, tick on the Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving box option too.

If this doesn’t fix the problem, try another method to resolve the issue.

2] Older formats not supported
You should know that the AutoSave feature is not supported in older file formats like .xls, .doc, or .ppt. In this case, you may change the file extension and see if it helps.

3] Fix corrupted file
Your Excel file might be corrupted and thus AutoSave function is not working. So, repair the corrupted Excel file. You can do so by using Excel’s inbuilt repair feature. Here are the steps for that:

Launch Excel and go to File > Open option and select the file that you want to fix.
Click on the Open drop-down button and then tap on the Open and Repair option.
Excel will now prompt you two options including Repair and Extract. You can use the Repair option to fix the corrupted Excel workbook. In case if Repair function doesn’t work, you can use the Extract feature to extract values and formulas from the sheet.
After that, check if this helps in fixing the AutoSave not working issue in Excel.

4] Resave Temp files
If the AutoSave feature is not working in Excel, you can recover your Excel files from temp files. These files are generally present at the following location in Windows 10:

C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\
You will see similar folders for Word and PowerPoint here;

C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\
You can also try looking for unsaved Excel files at another location which is:

C:\Users\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
When you find the Excel temp file, resave it with XLS or XLSX extension to recover the workbook.

5] Repair or Reinstall Office

If nothing seems to work in fixing this error, you can reinstall or repair Excel, Word or PowerPoint. A missing component can also cause AutoSave not working error. Hence, you repair the Excel program or choose to reinstall it.

To repair, you can go to the Settings > Apps section, choose the Microsoft Office module, and then click on the Change option. It will ask you to repair the program using two methods which are Quick Repair and Online Repair. Choose one of the two options and click on the Repair button to start repairing Office.

You can also uninstall and then reinstall Microsoft Office and then check whether the AutoSave feature not working problem is still there.

Reference:
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/autosave-feature-not-working-office

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll be glad to assist you further.

Best regards,
Jung

--If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer--

Answer 5

Hi John,

Thank you for posting your query. My name is Clarence and I'll be more than happy to assist with your concern.

AutoSave is available when a file is saved to Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365, but you need to save or open the file from within Excel, PowerPoint or Word to switch it on. You also need an active Microsoft 365 subscription.

To turn AutoSave on, save your file to your OneDrive or SharePoint folder from within your Office app.

Go to File then Save As.

Select your OneDrive cloud iconOneDrive personal, work or school account.

Office Save As dialog showing OneDrive folder

Choose your sub-folder from the list that appears.

Enter a file name and select Save.

Tips:

If you don't see your OneDrive OneDrive cloud icon in the list, select Sign in. If you don't see your family, work or school OneDrive listed, select Add a Place. Learn more about how to add OneDrive as a service.

Selecting an existing file will enable AutoSave for that file.

Kindly go to this link for your reference https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-turn-on-autosave-dbd19b49-ff3a-48f5-8294-671e33a6712c

Do not hesitate to message us if you need further assistance.