MS Office desktop icons move after I modify and save them.

Have you tried my solution?  It's near the bottom of the thread.  I'll copy it here:

I had this same problem, and I fixed it based on Morg's suggestion.  If you are using Office 2007 (maybe 2010 as well, but I have 2007) and the file in question is in the .doc format, this issue will result when you save the file, because the original file is deleted and a new copy is saved on your desktop.  Here is the fix:

1.  Open the file that is causing an issue.
2.  In the main menu (top left, the "office button"), choose "Save As".
3.  In the dialogue box that opens, change the "Save As Type" option (it is a drop-down list) to the most current file format (e.g. in MS Word, change "Word 97-2003 Document" to "Word Document").
4.  Click "Save", and click "Okay" on the warning message that pops up.
5.  Close the file; now you should have two icons for the file on your desktop: the original file in the older format, and a new file in the newer format.  Make sure you can open the new file and that nothing has changed that you can't fix.  If all is well, delete the original file and put the new one where you want it on the desktop.

Now the problem should be solved.  To double check, open the new file and change something small, then save and close the file; it should have remained in the same place on the desktop.  Be aware that updating the file format may cause changes to your file, so be sure to scan through it and make sure nothing important has changed.  This seems to be the simplest and most permanent fix (better for me than making a shortcut and placing the file elsewhere).  Hope this helps!

Hey janice,

Please read my post (theGreenBaron) from June 7, 2013 (it's near the bottom of the thread).  My solution may solve your problem.  Hope this helps!

Had this problem myself since switching to Win7 with Office 2007 so decided to look into it. Whilst some of the other solutions that appear in this thread may work for other, I think you have a similar problem to me. I've tried all of the suggestions to no avail. There isn't any pattern to the moving icons on my desktop. I copy files from our computer network to my local drive (I work remotely from the office so this speeds things up for me). When saving the file it may leave the icon in the same place or decide to move it to the next available location. There isn't any pattern to this (file type, auto arrange, grid align etc) so therefore it must be a timing thing.

What appears to be happening, is that when I save the file, MSWord is sometimes trying to carry out a background save simultaneously. Saving the same file simultaneously has to cause a conflict with the icon location. This is the reason the icon moves. The reason for the icon not moving is simple. MSWord isn't trying to carry out the background save at that particular moment and hence no conflict, so the icon stays in the same place. This is why it all appears so random.

The solution is to switch off background saves (Click the office button from within Word, then Word Options, then Advanced. In the Save section you should find the "allow background saves" box ticked. Untick and it should resolve the problem. This does mean that background saves aren't carried out, but looking at forums etc. no-one actually really seems to know what this function does. It isn't auto recover, so I think you are safe in case of a system crash. My advice though would be to monitor this over a period of time and carry out plently of manual saves especially when working on large docs.

thank you for your solution

it works perfectly with word

what about Excel 2003 ? I'm not able to apply the same suggestion...

could you help me on this?

thanks in advance

alessandro