How to Autosave an Excel Workbook

Autosaving your Excel workbook is a valuable practice that helps prevent data loss and ensures that your work is regularly saved without manual intervention. Microsoft Excel offers an "AutoSave" feature that automatically saves your changes at specified intervals. In this article, we will guide you through the steps to enable and use the Autosave feature in Excel.

Enabling AutoSave in Excel

Before you can take advantage of the AutoSave feature, ensure that you have a compatible version of Microsoft Excel. AutoSave is available in the following versions:

• Excel for Microsoft 365 (Excel 2016 and later)
• Excel for the web
• Excel for Mac (Excel 2016 for Mac and later)

Please note that the availability of AutoSave may vary based on your subscription or license.

To enable AutoSave in Excel for Microsoft 365, follow these steps:

1. Open Excel: Launch Microsoft Excel and open the workbook you want to autosave.

2. Sign In: Ensure you are signed in with a Microsoft 365 or OneDrive account. AutoSave requires a cloud storage service like OneDrive to function properly.

3. Click on "File": Go to the "File" tab located at the top-left corner of the Excel window.

4. Select "Options": In the left-hand menu, click on "Options" at the bottom. This will open the Excel Options dialog box.

5. Navigate to "Save": In the Excel Options dialog box, select "Save" from the left-hand side menu.

6. Enable AutoSave: Check the box next to "AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default." This will enable the AutoSave feature for your workbook.

7. Choose AutoSave Interval: You can choose the AutoSave interval that suits your preferences. The available options are "Every 5 minutes," "Every 10 minutes," and "Every 15 minutes." Select the desired interval from the drop-down menu.

8. Click "OK": Once you've made your selections, click the "OK" button to save your changes and close the Excel Options dialog box.

Using AutoSave

With AutoSave enabled, Excel will automatically save your workbook at the specified interval while you are working on it. The AutoSave icon will appear in the top-left corner of the Excel window, indicating that the feature is active.

Please keep in mind that AutoSave will save changes directly to the cloud storage location (OneDrive or SharePoint Online). Therefore, it is essential to have a stable internet connection to ensure that your changes are saved seamlessly.

Disabling AutoSave

If you wish to disable AutoSave for a specific workbook or session, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook in Excel.

2. Go to the "File" tab and select "Options."

3. In the Excel Options dialog box, choose "Save" from the left-hand side menu.

4. Uncheck the box next to "AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default."

5. Click "OK" to save your changes and disable AutoSave.

Conclusion

Enabling AutoSave in Microsoft Excel is a simple yet powerful way to safeguard your work and avoid the risk of data loss. By following the steps mentioned in this article, you can ensure that your changes are automatically saved at regular intervals, reducing the need for manual saving and providing peace of mind while working on important projects. Remember to sign in with a Microsoft 365 or OneDrive account and maintain a stable internet connection to fully leverage the benefits of the AutoSave feature in Excel.