Strange error message, is it possible my Excel has been hacked?

Question

Occasionally when saving there is an error that says, "Document not Saved. Please save as if problem persists". That last part, "please save as if problem persists", does not make sense, is using bad grammar, and doesn't sound like any official Microsoft error message. So is it possible that my version of Excel has been hacked?

365 Excel Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126)

Answer 1

Thank you for offering to look at this.

Sorry about the coloration.

Answer 2

Dear Felicia Reid2,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

We are sorry to hear that you’re having trouble with your Excel. We deeply understand the inconvenience caused and apologize for it.

We appreciate your understanding that sometimes the initial response may not resolve the problem immediately. However, we can work together to narrow down and resolve the situation. For further troubleshooting, could you please provide a screenshot of the exact error so that I can confirm this from my end? You can upload the screenshot using this feature:

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 3

Dear Felicia Reid2,

Thank you for the quick response.

Good news! The warning you just showed me is common, and from this picture, it doesn’t seem like hacking.

The grammar is okay; it’s just that it wasn’t presented properly.

So, the “save as” in the phrase “please save as if problem persists” refers to the name of the Save As feature.

I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 4

Okay, I get it - It should read; Please, "Save As", if the problem persists

Why does it happen every so often, when I save via Ctrl-S?

If I wait a few seconds, and Ctrl-S again, it saves it fine, and I only need to get rid of the .tmp file it left.

However, a number of our macros involve saving the workbook, so when this happens, it drops into the debugger.

I wait a few seconds and click, "Run", in the debugger, and it saves, and completes the macro just fine.

That is not a desirable situation, but it only happens about 5% of the time, with the same workbook.

Also, any .tmp files left behind need to be tossed, as well.

The other 95% of the time, the macros save just fine.

This error message only started appearing about a couple months ago

It never happened before that, for years, with the same workbooks.

    Thank you

Answer 5

Dear Felicia Reid2,

Good day! hope you are doing well.

I have a few questions regarding the issue

1. Could third-party add-ins be interfering with Excel’s saving process? Have you tried disabling them to see if the problem persists?
2. Is your antivirus software potentially interfering with the saving process? Have you tried temporarily disabling it to check if the issue resolves?
3. Could you please try opening Excel in Safe Mode so that we can try to narrow the issue.
4. May I know if the workbooks which are experiencing this error, all have a large file?

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderato