Automatic saving (for the forgetful). Recover files in Office for Mac

Every user who has lost a significant part of their work due to a computer freezing or crashing knows how important it is to save documents on time. When we work, all information is stored in RAM, and when we save the document, it is written to disk. It is easy to lose data from RAM, and hard drive already reliably stores them.

After creating a new document, it is recommended to immediately save it to disk “File” - “Save As”. And only then perform various operations in the document.
Regularly periodically after any changes (the more often the better) save the current version of the file using the “Save” button on the panel quick access. Or using the hotkey combination CTRL+S.

Unfortunately, most users, even professional ones, are so carried away by the work process that they often forget to periodically save changes to the document. When a computer crashes or freezes, this leads to the irretrievable loss of a certain amount of work done. Therefore, it is worth entrusting the solution to this problem to Excel itself.

How to enable autosave in Excel

To autosave in Excel after a specified period of time, do the following:

Note. Please note that in this settings section you can change the default folder for saving new documents - “Default file location”. That is, instead of the “My Documents” folder, you can specify any other frequently used folder of your choice.

Thus, if you forgot to save changes to a document, and your computer crashes (for any reason), then only the data made during the last 10 minutes (with default settings) will be lost. Therefore, in the settings it is better to reduce the value this parameter at least for 5 minutes.

How to recover an Excel file from autosave

After the first launch of the program after a failure, Excel will automatically prompt you to open the last saved version of the document. If this does not happen, then select: “File” - “Information” - “Version Control” - “Recover Unsaved Books”:

Autosave files are also stored there in the “Versions” list. But if this option doesn’t work, then you can manually open AutoSave in Excel yourself. You should search for the folder along the path specified in the settings described above. The default path is most likely this:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\

But in different versions Windows or Excel path may be different. To find out where Excel saves to automatic mode, you need to go to the settings and make sure the path is correct. As described above.

Note. If the file was closed correctly (it doesn't matter if it was saved or not), then the AutoRecovery folder will be empty. When you properly close a document, its backup copy is automatically deleted. So if you close unsaved document, a dialog box pops up asking you to confirm your action.

It is worth noting that even if you have configured the function automatic saving documents, do not ignore the possibility of manual saving (CTRL+S). Anything can happen... There are cases in user experience when automatic saving simply does not work. For example, if the computer freezes while performing complex computational operations in a program.

Any information must be saved prior to any potential computer failure. Not saved Excel files can be irretrievably lost when your computer freezes or crashes. In such situations, data from RAM that is not recorded on the hard drive is lost. It is worth remembering about regular manual saving of files, and the capabilities of auto-building will significantly help save all important information and all your work.

Many users of the product Microsoft Office know how important autosaves are. Let's consider a situation when you are making large documents, typing several sheets of text in Word or doing complex calculations in Excel and the program freezes or simply closes for unknown reasons. Or, for example, the power was turned off at your home/work and not everyone has a UPS, as a result of which all your work is simply lost. To avoid such situations, it is better to set up autosave before starting to work with Microsoft Office. It’s quite simple to do this, but it’s not the most advanced user You can easily set up autosave in Word or Excel.

How to Enable AutoSave in Word 2016

And so, in order to enable autosave, you need to launch the program and go to the File tab.

In the Word Options window that opens, go to the Savings tab. On the right, find the Save documents item and check the box next to Autosave every and select the time interval after which autosave will occur. Word documents. You can also select the document format in which it will be saved.

How to enable autosave in Excel 2016

In Excel you need to follow all the same steps. Also go to the File tab, go to settings, go to Saving and enable autosave for Excel.

Can be customized different interval saving for Word and Excel, let’s say in Word, autosaving will occur every 5 minutes, but in Excel 10 this is very convenient.

How to disable autosaves

If you don't work with large documents and you are confident in the performance of your computer, you can disable autosave simply by unchecking the box.

Setting up an autosave folder

You can also configure the autosave folder. By default, it is located deep in the system and cannot be easily reached. Therefore, you can create a folder on your desktop and specify the path to it in the program. To do this you need to go to Microsoft settings Office and in the Directory for autosave data select it.

Where to find autosaves

The autosave feature will help you recover data after a failure or error in Microsoft products Office. Therefore, after the correct completion of work with Word or Excel, all saved copies will be automatically deleted and, accordingly, it will not be possible to find autosaves. But if the Microsoft Office program closed as a result of an error or failure, then you will find autosaving in the folder that you specified in the program.

The adage “Save now, save often” has become a relic of the past. Now there is a function autosave, which saves the document for you every few seconds.

AutoSave is enabled for files stored in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online. As you work, it automatically saves changes to the cloud. If other people are working on a document at the same time as you, autosave will allow them to see the changes you make in a matter of seconds.

Note: Use the command File > Save as after making changes to the original document or template? In this case, we recommend before to make changes use the command File > Save a copy so that the autosave function does not overwrite source file. If the file is still overwritten by the autosave function, see the "" section below.

On Windows, AutoSave is available in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint 2016 for Office 365 subscribers. Here you will find answers to some of the frequently asked questions about this feature.

What is autosave?

Autosave is new feature Windows, available in Excel applications, Word, and PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers. It saves files for you.

I didn't need the changes to be saved. How can I cancel them?

You can restore previous version file. After this she will become current version.

When you open a file and make the first changes, AutoSave saves those changes and adds them to the version history new version file. After this, although AutoSave regularly saves changes to the file, new versions are only added to the version history periodically (about every 10 minutes) during the rest of the editing session.

If you are the owner Word file or Excel, you can add a "Recommend read-only" option to it. When opening such a file, a message will be displayed stating that the author recommends opening the file as read-only. To enable this option for a file, select File > Save a copy > Review. Then click Service > General Settings and check the box Recommend read-only access. Click the button OK, and then save the file with a different name or overwrite the current file.

You can also protect the file from editing in other ways. If the file is stored on OneDrive, you can change its permissions. If it's stored in SharePoint, you can enable the library to require file checkout.

straightaway select a team File > Save a copy.

If you're opening a document from OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online, there's no Save option in the File tab. In this case, autosave is enabled by default, so you don't need to select the command File > Save. Changes are saved automatically.

The autosave indicator appears in the left top corner windows if you have an Office 365 subscription and have the latest installed Excel versions, Word and PowerPoint for Windows. Please note: if you are using account Whether it's for the office or for school, the administrator sometimes decides which version of Office you can install, so the latest version may not be available. More information see article

If you don't have a subscription, don't worry: you can use AutoRecover instead. This feature helps protect files in the event of a failure. If you reopen a file after a failure, the Document Recovery pane lists a version with the latest changes. For more information about how to enable autorecovery, see Protect your files in the event of a failure.

AutoSave is enabled when working on files that are stored in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online. If the file is saved in a different location, autosave is disabled. This occurs if your file is stored on an on-premises SharePoint site, file server or has a local path such as C:\.

included turn off turn on

Protect files in case of failure. When autosave is enabled, autorecovery is disabled, but don't worry. Your file is saved to the cloud every few seconds. So if something fails while editing a file in the cloud, simply open it again.

If you turn off autosave the file, the program will remember this setting, and when you open it in the future, this function will be disabled. If you again turn on autosave, this feature will remain enabled for this file.

If you want autosave to be turned off for all files by default, open the tab File, press the button Options, then select a section Saving and uncheck Automatically save OneDrive and SharePoint Online files to Word by default.

For the changes to take effect, restart Word (or whatever application you're working in).

Notes:

If you want to turn off AutoSave by default for all Office applications, such as PowerPoint and Excel, repeat these steps for each of them.

If you want autosave enabled for some separate files, you can open them and manually enable autosave.

Articles on the topic

On Mac computers, AutoSave is available in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers. Here you will find answers to some of the frequently asked questions about this feature.

What is autosave?

AutoSave is a new feature available on Mac in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers that saves files for you.

How often does saving occur?

Changes are automatically saved every few seconds. However, the time may vary depending on what you are working on.

I didn't need the changes to be saved. How can I cancel them?

You can restore a previous version of a file. After that it will become the current version. Click File > View version history. In the Version History area, find the version you want to restore by date and time, and then click Open version. Another window will open. To roll back to this version, click the button Restore.

If you're opening a document from OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online, there's no Save As option in the File tab. Instead there is a command Save a copy.

Do you often use the "Save As" command? When working with files, many people are accustomed to using the Save As command in the File tab to save changes to a copy rather than to the original document. However, if AutoSave is enabled, changes are saved to the original document. Therefore, if you want changes to be made to the copy, we recommend straightaway select a team File > Save a copy.

The AutoSave indicator appears in the upper left corner of the window if you have an Office 365 subscription and have installed latest versions Excel, Word and PowerPoint for Mac. Please note: If you use an office or school account, the administrator sometimes decides which version of Office you can install, so the latest version may not be available. For more information, see When will new features be available for Office 365?

If you don't have a subscription, don't worry. You can still use autorecovery. This feature helps protect files in the event of a failure. If you reopen a file after a failure, the Document Recovery pane shows the version with the latest changes. Learn more about how to enable this function, see Recover files in Office for Mac.

I have a subscription and it's the last one Office version. Why is autosave disabled?

Additionally, to activate the autosave feature, you must open the document in Word application, Excel or PowerPoint using the menu File.

Note: If you have chosen File > Open and the below window appears, click the "Network Locations" button and select a file in OneDrive or SharePoint to enable the AutoSave feature.

There are other reasons why autosave might be disabled. Here are the most common:

The file is saved in the old format: XLS, PPT or DOC.

The file is in a local OneDrive folder, or OneDrive is paused.

The file is embedded in another Office file.

The presentation is in slide show mode.

If you're using Excel and have tried all of the above, your file may contain features that are not supported by AutoSave. Do one or more of the following to enable it.

By default, autosave is always included for files in the cloud. However, if turn off autosave for a file, the program will remember this setting, and when you open it in the future, this function will be turned off. If you again turn on autosave, this feature will remain enabled for this file.

If you turn off AutoSave, will Office stop saving files for recovery during outages?

No. When autosave is turned off, autorecovery still works. For more information, see Automatically save and restore files. When autosave is on, autorecovery is off, but don't worry: your file is saved to the cloud every few seconds. So if something goes wrong while editing a file in the cloud, just open it again.

Is it possible to completely disable autosave?

No. However you can disable autosave for file. The program will remember this setting, and when you open it in the future, this feature will be disabled. If you again turn on autosave, this feature will remain enabled for this file.

IN word processor MS Word has a fairly well implemented document autosave function. As you write text or add any other data to a file, the program automatically saves a backup copy of it at a specified time interval.

We have already written about how this function works, in this article we will talk about a related topic, namely, we will look at where temporary Word files are stored. These are the ones backups, documents not saved in a timely manner, which are located in the default directory, and not in the location specified by the user.

Why would someone need to access temporary files? Yes, at least to find a document whose saving path the user did not specify. The last saved version of the file, created in the event of a sudden termination of Word, will be stored in this location. The latter can happen due to power outages or due to failures or errors in the operating system.

How to find the folder with temporary files

In order to find the directory in which backup copies of Word documents created directly while working in the program are saved, we will need to turn to the autosave function. More precisely, to its settings.

Note: Before you start searching for temporary files, be sure to close all running Microsoft Office windows. If necessary, you can cancel the task through the “Dispatcher” (called by the key combination "CTRL+SHIFT+ESC").

1. Open Word and go to menu "File".

2. Select a section "Options".

3. In the window that will open in front of you, select the item "Saving".

4. It is in this window that all standard saving paths will be displayed.

Note: If the user has made changes to the default settings, they will be displayed in this window instead of the default values.

5. Pay attention to the section "Saving documents", namely, at the point "Data directory for autorecovery". The path next to it will take you to the location where the latest versions of automatically saved documents are stored.

Thanks to the same window, you can find the last saved document. If you do not know its location, pay attention to the path indicated opposite the item "Location local files default".

6. Remember the path you need to go to, or just copy and paste it into search bar system explorer. Press "ENTER" to go to the specified folder.

7. Based on the name of the document or its date and time last change, find the one you need.

Note: Temporary files are quite often stored in folders named exactly like the documents they contain. True, instead of spaces between words they have symbols like "%20", without quotes.

8. Open this file via context menu: right click on the document - "Open with" — Microsoft Word. Make the necessary changes, remembering to save the file in a location convenient for you.

Note: In most cases of emergency closure text editor(network outages or system errors), if repeated opening Word prompts you to open the last saved version of the document you were working on. The same thing happens when you open a temporary file directly from the folder in which it is stored.

Now you know where temporary files are stored Microsoft programs Word. We sincerely wish you not only productive, but also stable operation(without errors or crashes) in this text editor.

AutoRecovery feature available in some Office applications, will attempt to automatically recover files in the event of an application or system failure. This is done by periodically saving a copy of the file to background. By default, AutoRecovery saves a recovery file every 10 minutes.

Important: Do not use AutoRecovery as a replacement for regularly saving files using AutoSave (see below) or the command save. Saving files frequently - best way save your job.

You can set the frequency of saving these AutoRecovery files. For example, if you set AutoRecover to save every 5 minutes, you can recover more information in the event of an unexpected shutdown, such as a power outage, than if you save every 10 or 15 minutes.

If you saved your file manually, everything previous files autosaves will be deleted due to the changes being saved.

AutoSave is another feature that automatically saves the file as you work, just like saving the file manually, so you don't have to worry about saving along the way. On Mac computer AutoSave is available in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers. When AutoSave is enabled, AutoRecover files are rarely needed.

For more information, see the article What is AutoSave?

Recovering a file saved using AutoSave

Typically, the application will automatically recover your work the next time you open the application after a power failure or other unexpected shutdown, detecting that the AutoRecovery file exists and automatically opening it. If you want to keep the recovered file, you must save it immediately before closing or editing it.

If you want to find all the automatically restored files on your computer, go to the search tool and click the button Go _gt_ Go to folder(or press SHIFT+COMMAND+G) and enter the appropriate folder path from the table below. Replace _Lt_ username_gt_ username:

Notes:

The AutoRecovery folder is hidden folder, so you likely won't see it if you're just trying to navigate to it in Finder. Using a tool "go to folder" enter the full path to bypass this article.

If you close the file and press the button don't save, the AutoSave file will be deleted because Office assumes everything is correct and the AutoSave file is not needed.

Change how often AutoRecovery files are automatically saved in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel

Change where files are automatically saved in Word

Note: The AutoRecovery folder cannot be changed in Excel or PowerPoint. For these applications, autosave files are stored in the folders listed above.

Recovering text from a damaged file in Word

Search for an automatically saved or restored file

The next time you open the application, the files in the AutoRecovery folder will be listed in the Open recent list. You can also find them by going to the section Go To folder _gt_ (or by pressing SHIFT + COMMAND + g) and entering the phrase "/Users/ username/library/application support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery"