Excel Saving Issues

Question

Hi Guys,

The latest update that introduced autosaves is terrible. It took me a while to turn it off because it's not that straightforward. The fact that it will always default to autosave on, even after you click autosave off, unless you go into the program settings has caused quite a few issues in my office.

Apart from this gripe, the newest update appears to delete all unsaved recovery files every time you click "edit workbook" under the ribbon.

I want to know how to stop the automatic deletion of unsaved recovery files, and also how I can return to a stable build of excel.

Thanks,

Michael

Answer 1

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your updates.

If you click Close without reviewing all recovered files, you'll see an option to view them again later when you restart the app. You can select **Yes, I want to view these files later (safest option),**as shown below:

For more details, you can refer to this article: Recover your Office files.

At the same time, you mentioned “open > recover unsaved workbooks”, this refers to finding the location of the unsaved file instead of the location of the recovered file. If you want to find the AutoRecover files, you can go to Excel File > Options > Save and then you can see the AutoRecover files location. As shown below:

You can go to this location to find the files.

Regards,

Sukie

Answer 2

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your update.

For the situation you are experiencing, that is not a issue. It’s an expected behavior. When you click the Enable Editing, the Document Recovery panel will disappear.

To address your concern about the situation, we’d suggest you go to Excel for Windows to provide your feedback. This is the best platform to let us hear from you and make our products and services better for you and others.

Thank you for your understanding!

Regards,

Sukie

Answer 3

Hi Sukie,

Thanks for the response.

The Edit Workbook prompt is due to protected view. It replaces the ribbon until selected screenshot below:

Once this is clicked the recovered files pane disappears, but it appears the files remain. After a restart of my computer I realised that the pane was visible again until I clicked enable editing.

Could this be a network/sharepoint/onedrive issue?

Version number below:

I'll try a repair in the meanwhile.

Thanks,

Michael

Answer 4

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your message in this forum. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

If you want to return to the previous version of Excel, you can refer to this article: How to revert to an earlier version of Office 2016 Click-to-Run.

If you do not want to return to the previous version of Excel, I am glad to help you solve the problem. 

As Palcouk said, Autosave is only set on, by default if the file is located on OneDrive. You can check if the Excel file is located on OneDrive.

For the other question, I have tested it with the latest version of Excel and it works fine. So I want to give you the suggestions below and hope that will help you:

1. You can refer to this article: Update history for Office 365 ProPlus to check if your Excel is the latest version. If not, you can update your Excel to the latest version to check if the same problem will occur.
2. You can go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > select Microsoft Excel and right-click > Change > Online repair to repair your Excel to check if the same problem will occur.

If the problem persists, I want to confirm the information below with you:

1. Could you provide the version of your Excel? You can go to Excel File > Account > Product Information and provide the screenshot of it.
2. Do all the files have the same problem? You can create a new one to check if the same problem will occur.
3. You mentioned “click "edit workbook" under the ribbon.”, could your provide the screenshot of it?

Regards,

Sukie

Answer 5

Do we assume you have version 1904, build 11601.20144?

Autosave is only set on, by default if the doc is located on OneDrive.

There is no "edit workbook" on the ribbon unless you have added such

AutoRecover settings are set in the Component>Options>Save section