Beware the AutoSave If You Are Not Co-Authoring

October 11, 2021 - by Bill Jelen

Problem: I frequently open an Excel file and make changes with no intention of saving them.

Strategy: If you save your documents to OneDrive, the new default behavior will have AutoSave turned on by default. This setting is terrible for regular Excellers everywhere. If you only want Excel to save when you are ready to save, then remember to turn this setting to off.

If you are not planning on collaborating, avoid ever letting your file have AutoSave = On — Figure 114. Toggle the AutoSave switch to Off if you are not co-authoring.

Or, go to File, Options, Save and turn this off globally.

The Excel MVPs fought hard to get the checkbox under File, Options, Save, AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Excel. If you are rarely collaborating, turn this off. — Figure 115. Make all future workbooks default to AutoSave = Off.

This article is an excerpt from Power Excel With MrExcel

Title photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash