Excel asks me to save every time I close a file, 100% of cases, even new empty file

Question

Hello,

this issue has apparently plagued individual people for years - and there is zero support from Microsoft what could be causing this bug.

This bug happens to all files, where Autosave has been disabled - most people (e.g. my office colleagues) don't realize this is a bug, as they have autosave on by default - but after testing with some of them - it started to also ask them to save empty / not changed files.

For me it started immediately after Office 365 update ~May 2025 - I am sure about it as it tells me "please close outlook one note excel word" to apply updates.

And within 1 -2 hours of the update I noticed this annoying change of behavior on absolutely all files - including empty / new ones.

Create new file on desktop - open - close - it asks for save.

Or files which I use since years, and know perfectly well have no "today()" or similar command inside them, so they never prompt me to save them for cases when I have not modified them.

I can even manually save right before exiting - it will again ask me to save.

This is a problem, and a total time waster - because sometimes I want to not save (experimental changes) I've made - and not this fake prompt makes me start thinking each time I close a file - have I made changes really, do I want to save them.

Leading to either lost data, or save something wrong in the file (e.g. pressed some button by mistake, and overwrote the contents of some cell).

Or just wasting my time to start CTRL-Z / CTRL-Y ing to see the latest changes, and do I want to save them.

Answer 1

Dear Gyulmezov, 

Thank you for raising your concern to Microsoft Support Community.  

Based on your description and recent reports from other users, it appears that Excel has started prompting to save files even when no changes were made, especially after the May 2025 Office update. This affects both new and existing files, even those without dynamic formulas or visible edits. 

As of now, Microsoft has not officially confirmed this as a bug, and no fix has been published. It may be a design change in how Excel detects file modifications—possibly triggered by AutoRecover, metadata updates, or internal workbook state. 

What you can try: 

1. Open Excel in Safe Mode 
   Hold Ctrl while launching Excel to disable add-ins and test if the issue persists.
2. Inspect the workbook 
   Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Workbook to look for hidden content or links.
3. Temporarily disable AutoRecover 
   Go to File > Options > Save, and uncheck “Save AutoRecover information every X minutes.”
4. Test with a clean workbook 
   Create a new workbook, enter no data, save it, and close. See if the prompt still appears.

Since this behavior may be intentional or unacknowledged, I strongly recommend submitting feedback directly to Microsoft via File > Feedback > Send a Frown. This helps the product team understand how the change affects real-world usage. Many improvements in Microsoft 365 come directly from user feedback. 

If this answer was helpful, please consider clicking "Mark as answer" to help others find it more easily. 

I completely understand how disruptive this behavior can be, and I appreciate you taking the time to report it. 

Best regards, 

Thu-D/Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hello Gyulmezov, 

Thank you so much for your detailed testing and follow-up, your insights are incredibly valuable. 

It’s great to hear that Safe Mode temporarily resolves the issue, which strongly suggests that an add-in or environment-specific factor may be interfering with Excel’s change detection logic after the May 2025 update. You're absolutely right that this behavior can be disruptive, especially when working with experimental edits or large volumes of files. 

At this time, Microsoft has not officially confirmed this as a bug. While submitting feedback via File > Feedback > Send a Frown is still the most direct way to reach the product team, I also recommend checking or upvoting similar reports on the Microsoft Feedback Portal: Ideas · Community 

If you find a matching post, voting or commenting there helps consolidate visibility and signals broader impact. If not, feel free to create a new post, your detailed description would be a strong contribution. 

Thank you again for your persistence and for helping surface this issue so clearly.

Answer 3

In the meantime found the guilty Add-in and disabled it (not using it at the moment)

It's an company add-in used since few years, so definitely the May update has created some compatibility issues with it.

And the auto-save hides it for most people - test it on a new empty file, upon each open/close of the file it saved a newer empty version in the file history.

Answer 4

Hello Thu-D,

1. Most likely this is the reason - as starting in safe mode helped to stop getting this problem.

Apparently something got messed up (maybe in some Add-In) with the May update. Maybe excel is handling some of them in a different way / some feature is messing up the change detection.

2. Irrelevant, as the problem happens on new / empty files.
3. Tried it - not an autosave problem (30 minutes are set).
4. this was the test from the start.

I also have given feedback form since months - as usually no reaction.