>>>
As far as I know, the only way to get the saved date is via some non-simple vba macro that must be inserted into your worksheet
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It isn't "non-simple" at all. It is quite simple, just two lines of code.
Function LastSaveDate()
Application.Volatile True
LastSaveDate = FileDateTime(ThisWorkbook.FullName)
End Function
You can call this from a cell with
=LastSaveDate()
That's your perspective as an MVP and VBA expert (and probably other programming languages too). The average user like me does not want to write a line of code to use a very basic function for many reasons especially when that function has existed in other
parts of Microsoft office for many, many years. Is it so hard for the same product team in the same company to share the code and get basic functionality consistent among the sub-products?
Besides, you are also ignoring another major issue which is our deployment of excel disables macros by default. While this may be trivial to you technically ("just" 2-lines of code as you put it), will still require the same painful, lengthy approval process
to get through the IT department.
Try to consider the perspective of the average excel user who has little control over the software installed on her computer and really doesn't know even where to start writing a macro program.