How to Autosave local to PC instead of to OneDrive when using Word

Question

In Word (Office 365 version) I used to be able to autosave locally to the PC instead of to OneDrive.  Now I am being forced to save to OneDrive if I want the Autosave feature turned on in Word.  But I'd rather not use OneDrive since I already have Google Drive, and it is not necessary to use both (in fact they seem incompatible as far as I can tell as OneDrive started clobbering my Google Drive folder locations when I tried to install it).

I'm usually logged out of my 365 account when I'm just using Word, so it seems unnecessary to force me to log into my 365 account and save on OneDrive.   Any solutions?

Answer 1

I understand that Microsoft is trying to force people to use the 365 subscription based version of Word and the OneDrive feature.  But shouldn't there at least be an option to only save files locally to your PC?  Seems crazy to force you to autosave in the cloud, even if it is replicated locally.  What if you don't want your documents in the cloud?

Answer 2

Hi Matt

I totally agree with you, I always save locally to my PC and only use the Cloud as a manual backup

In Word, go to File - Options - Save and set that to save to your PC by default and you can choose a preferred Save folder

They should really re-think the AutoSave function and allow that for locally saved files as well . . .

Answer 3

To Doug: I no longer have access to an older version of standalone Word, so I cannot say for sure when the Autosave feature worked locally.  But I'm sure there was an Autosave feature for local to PC saving, complete with a little notification icon at the bottom of the Word window (scribbling across the pages of the book icon) letting you know when Autosave was working in the background to save your document.  It appears that icon has been repurposed to now notify you that you have proofing errors.

On a slower computer the previous local Autosave feature could slow down the responsiveness of Word while it was autosaving.  So to address that problem Word gave you the option of setting the frequency of Autosave so as not to be too frequent and annoying, the same as they do now for non-local saving to OneDrive or SharePoint.

To Microsoft: Bring back the Autosave to PC option!

Answer 4

I did check the Default Save to PC option (and unchecked the Autosave OneDrive at the top of the menu).  But that still won't allow me to turn Autosave on for autosaving locally to the PC.   As DaveM121 notes above, a local to PC autosave feature simply is apparently not available for stand-alone versions of the Office products (even though it used to be - one reason not to upgrade).

Below is a link to the information that Microsoft has on Autosave if any others are reading this thread and seeking more information.  The gist of it seems to be that non-subscribers/stand-alone Office users need to rely on AutoRecover as indicated in this "reassuring" sentence:

"If you're not a subscriber, don't worry. There's still AutoRecover. AutoRecover helps protect files in case of a crash. If you reopen the file after a crash, a version of the file with your latest changes appears in a Document Recovery pane. "

But "a version of your file with the latest changes" implies that it is autosaving anyway -- just not in the document you're updating like with Autosave!  Autorecover (IMHO) is a poor substitute for Autosave. 

Aarrrggghh!

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/what-is-autosave-6d6bd723-ebfd-4e40-b5f6-ae6e8088f7a5?NS=WINWORD&Version=90&SysLcid=1033&UiLcid=1033&AppVer=ZWD900&HelpId=106549&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Answer 5

There was no Autosave feature in earlier versions of Word!  Rather, there was, and still is, a facility that saves "AutoRecover" information at an interval that can be set by the user.  In the event that the Word program terminates in an abnormal manner, that "AutoRecover" information is used to recover a copy of a document in the state that it was in when the last "AutoRecover" save was made.

The default "AutoRecover" save interval is 10 minutes and it is correct that significantly reducing that interval can have a detrimental effect on the performance of Word as normal processing is interrupted when that save is taking place.

In earlier versions of Word, the "AutoRecover" save version was deleted when the file was closed.   

There is NOTHING for Microsoft to bring back!  The original facility is still there in a slightly enhanced form as there is now a box under File>Options>Save that, if checked, will "Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving".