Auto-save not working on Word

Question

We have one user who contacted us that AutoSave was not staying on. Our team re-installed office which fixed the issue for Excel, but not for Word. We have confirmed user did:

File ] Options ] Save and check the box next to AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on [application].

and

right-click OneDrive icon in the taskbar ] Settings ] Office ] check the box next to Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open ] OK.

Would it be logical to have someone else use their OS365 account on her laptop to see if there is no issue using Word on that machine?

Answer 1

Hi Cisco Velez,

Thank you for posting back and confirming the scenario with us.

Since the issue appears only on a specific laptop, you may try following ways and check the outcome.

1.Try Online Repair Office, you may refer to steps in this article. After that, restart the laptop and check the result in Word.

2.It looks like you open OneDrive files from the OneDrive sync folder in Windows file explorer.

You may firstly open Word application in safe mode: Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC (microsoft.com)

Then go to OneDrive sync folder, open a Word document and check if AutoSave will stay on.

If AutoSave works in Word safe mode, the issue may be caused by add-ins in Word.

3.If issue still appears, you may perform a clean boot on the laptop, it can help you determine if any background program on the laptop is interfering with Word.

For reference: How to perform a clean boot in Windows (microsoft.com)

Thank you for your patience and understanding so far.

We look forward to your reply. Thanks for your cooperation.

Hope you have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Tina | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

AutoSave only works for files saved to OneDrive or SharePoint or into a folder that is synchronized with OneDrive or SharePoint (which is really the same thing). It does not work if the document is saved to a folder on the local drive that is NOT synchronized with OneDrive.

Check to see if that is the case.

Answer 3

I should have mentioned all the correct steps were performed on another laptop. The client goes back to their own machine and Auto-save does not work.

Answer 4

Hi Cisco Velez,

Thanks for posting back.

Could you confirm information below? It will help us know the detailed situation and do troubleshooting for the issue.

1.Is the situation that the Autosave issue only appears on the affected user's own machine, if she signs in her account in Word on another laptop, autosave works well?

2.If Autosave issue only appears on the user's own laptop, may I know if there is any difference between the Word application on her laptop and that on other laptop?

What is the version and channel of her Word app? And what is the version and channel of Word on other laptop?

We appreciate your patience and understanding! Hope you have a nice day and stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Tina | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 5

Thanks for getting back to me. Here is what we are dealing with: