Document Recovery ( AutoRecover ) is not working for Excel 2016. System: Windows 8.1 64 bit Microsoft Excel 2016 MSO (16.0.8528.2126) 64 bit No fix even after a full Online repair of Office 2016 and, of course, all possible Office Updates. After working for hours on several Excel documents (which had previously been saved with a file name etc.), the power went out in our building. When the power was restored and Excel reopened, I was presented with the expected list of Recovered Documents on the left side. HOWEVER, every single one of these were simply "the Original version" or "the version last saved by user" (something like that). Meaning they did not contain ANY new data that had been entered since the last time I had saved them/reopened them despite the AutoRecover being set to 1 minute. NOTES : Document Recovery seems to be working for Word and PP. The settings in Options>Save are all the same for all Office products: currently set to AutoRecover every 1 minute. The ...AppData>Roaming>Microsoft>Excel folder contains no backup file/folder for new or reopened Excel Documents. Thank goodness, the AutoRecover does seem to be updating the equivalent folder for Word ("AutoRecovery save of DocumentX.asd" files get updated) and PowerPoint (the "pptXXX.tmp" file also updated). Edit: This is obviously some MSOffice Bug. Of the multiple 'test' spreadsheets I've been playing around with to study this, exactly 1 of them seems to actually back up. But absolutely no other ones and none of my previously created sheets ever backup to AutoRecover.

Hello, AutoRecover helps protect files in case of a crash. If you reopen the file after a crash, a version of the file with your latest changes appears in a Document Recovery pane. We still suggest that you save manually in order for the feature to begin working. If you neglect to save again within the specified time frame, an AutoRecovery file is created & it is updated on the same basis. It's still recommended that you periodically save your work (a simple Command+S when needed is all it takes). The amount of new information that the recovered file contains depends on how frequently a Microsoft Office program saves the recovery file. For example, if the recovery file is saved only every 15 minutes, your recovered file won't contain your last 14 minutes of work before the power failure or other problem occurred. To be extra safe, enter a small number in the minutes box, like 5 or 10. That way, you’ll never lose more than 5 or 10 minutes of work. On the other hand, if you want to make Office faster, try entering a larger number in the minutes box, like 20. You may try to uninstall and reinstall the Excel application then set again the settings to refresh it. Click File > Options > Save . Make sure the Save AutoRecover information every x minutes box is selected. In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, make sure the Keep the last autorecovered version if I close without saving box is selected. Let us know how it turns out for you. Thank you.

Thank you for your response. Sadly, the first 75% of your reply is generic information on how one might use/need to use the AutoRecover feature and how to set the interval etc. You may have noticed from my question, that I know how to set it and how it SHOULD work.... but it DOES NOT WORK. This leaves only one (maybe 2) questions from what you have suggested. As you have read, I have done a full Online Repair of MS Office 2016. First, are you saying that an uninstall and reinstall would possibly have a different result than the full Online Repair? Second, how do you uninstall and reinstall ONLY Excel as you suggest? Thank you.

I am also having this issue. Since the last update of Excel, it does not recover any of my files that are saved on my hard-drive -- the file has been saved and I do some work on it -- Excel crashes and all of my work is gone. If the file is saved on Sharepoint, it is auto-saved every five seconds (it seems) so it doesn't have this issue. Excel is crashing on me multiple times a day, even when running no other programs. Since the update earlier this month (I do the fast updates), I've had multiple issues, but this one in particular is unsettling. Unless I literally save after everything I type, I am guaranteed to lose work, because Excel is crashing so often.

I am also having this issue. I know that previously the "Save AutoRecover information every 4 minutes) was working, because it did occasionally present me with a choice of autosaved files. Yesterday my computer shut down while I had excel open, and one workbook on which I had done a fair amount of work. Usually I also save frequently. There was no autorecover information file for this, but I went into the Save options, and "Disable AutoRecover for this workbook only" was ticked. I have since checked all my regularly used workbooks, and found a few of them were ticked in this manner. I'm very sure I did not set them that way. In any case, they should be saving autorecover information now. I created a new "testing.xlsx" workbook. I added a lot of information to it, and I've had the AutoRecover file location open in another window and have been watching it. The file is set to save AutoRecover file information every 4 minutes. 16 minutes have elapsed and there is nothing in that file location. Should there not be a file there? You've indicated to reinstall Excel. The last time I did this, following the Microsoft instructions, My complete set of Office 365 applications were deleted. The reinstall as per Microsoft instructions didn't work, and eventually someone from Microsoft had to connect to my computer and to the reinstall that way. I have Windows 10 now on a relatively new laptop, so perhaps that has something to do with the problem.

Excel 2016 AutoRecover not working - NO files being saved to the AutoRecover File location

Anonymous

Document Recovery (AutoRecover) is not working for Excel 2016.

System:

Windows 8.1 64 bit

Microsoft Excel 2016 MSO (16.0.8528.2126) 64 bit

No fix even after a full Online repair of Office 2016 and, of course, all possible Office Updates.

After working for hours on several Excel documents (which had previously been saved with a file name etc.), the power went out in our building. When the power was restored and Excel reopened, I was presented with the expected list of Recovered Documents on the left side. HOWEVER, every single one of these were simply "the Original version" or "the version last saved by user" (something like that).

Meaning they did not contain ANY new data that had been entered since the last time I had saved them/reopened them despite the AutoRecover being set to 1 minute.

NOTES:

Document Recovery seems to be working for Word and PP.
The settings in Options>Save are all the same for all Office products: currently set to AutoRecover every 1 minute.
The ...AppData>Roaming>Microsoft>Excel folder contains no backup file/folder for new or reopened Excel Documents. Thank goodness, the AutoRecover does seem to be updating the equivalent folder for Word ("AutoRecovery save of DocumentX.asd" files get updated) and PowerPoint (the "pptXXX.tmp" file also updated).

Edit: This is obviously some MSOffice Bug. Of the multiple 'test' spreadsheets I've been playing around with to study this, exactly 1 of them seems to actually back up. But absolutely no other ones and none of my previously created sheets ever backup to AutoRecover.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

I finally found the right location of the autorecovery files for Mac users of Excel!

See: this post on this forum

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94 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-10-19T23:52:55+00:00
Hello,

AutoRecover helps protect files in case of a crash. If you reopen the file after a crash, a version of the file with your latest changes appears in a Document Recovery pane. We still suggest that you save manually in order for the feature to begin working. If you neglect to save again within the specified time frame, an AutoRecovery file is created & it is updated on the same basis. It's still recommended that you periodically save your work (a simple Command+S when needed is all it takes).

The amount of new information that the recovered file contains depends on how frequently a Microsoft Office program saves the recovery file. For example, if the recovery file is saved only every 15 minutes, your recovered file won't contain your last 14 minutes of work before the power failure or other problem occurred. To be extra safe, enter a small number in the minutes box, like 5 or 10. That way, you’ll never lose more than 5 or 10 minutes of work. On the other hand, if you want to make Office faster, try entering a larger number in the minutes box, like 20.

You may try to uninstall and reinstall the Excel application then set again the settings to refresh it.
1. Click File > Options > Save.
2. Make sure the Save AutoRecover information every x minutes box is selected.
3. In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, make sure the Keep the last autorecovered version if I close without saving box is selected.
Let us know how it turns out for you.

Thank you.
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Anonymous

2017-10-20T00:01:04+00:00

Thank you for your response.

Sadly, the first 75% of your reply is generic information on how one might use/need to use the AutoRecover feature and how to set the interval etc. You may have noticed from my question, that I know how to set it and how it SHOULD work.... but it DOES NOT WORK.

This leaves only one (maybe 2) questions from what you have suggested. As you have read, I have done a full Online Repair of MS Office 2016. First, are you saying that an uninstall and reinstall would possibly have a different result than the full Online Repair? Second, how do you uninstall and reinstall ONLY Excel as you suggest?

Thank you.
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30+ people found this answer helpful.

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Anonymous

2017-10-23T21:41:52+00:00

I am also having this issue. Since the last update of Excel, it does not recover any of my files that are saved on my hard-drive -- the file has been saved and I do some work on it -- Excel crashes and all of my work is gone. If the file is saved on Sharepoint, it is auto-saved every five seconds (it seems) so it doesn't have this issue.

Excel is crashing on me multiple times a day, even when running no other programs. Since the update earlier this month (I do the fast updates), I've had multiple issues, but this one in particular is unsettling. Unless I literally save after everything I type, I am guaranteed to lose work, because Excel is crashing so often.
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10 people found this answer helpful.

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Anonymous

2017-10-24T19:04:00+00:00

I am also having this issue. I know that previously the "Save AutoRecover information every 4 minutes) was working, because it did occasionally present me with a choice of autosaved files. Yesterday my computer shut down while I had excel open, and one workbook on which I had done a fair amount of work. Usually I also save frequently. There was no autorecover information file for this, but I went into the Save options, and "Disable AutoRecover for this workbook only" was ticked. I have since checked all my regularly used workbooks, and found a few of them were ticked in this manner. I'm very sure I did not set them that way. In any case, they should be saving autorecover information now. I created a new "testing.xlsx" workbook. I added a lot of information to it, and I've had the AutoRecover file location open in another window and have been watching it. The file is set to save AutoRecover file information every 4 minutes. 16 minutes have elapsed and there is nothing in that file location. Should there not be a file there?

You've indicated to reinstall Excel. The last time I did this, following the Microsoft instructions, My complete set of Office 365 applications were deleted. The reinstall as per Microsoft instructions didn't work, and eventually someone from Microsoft had to connect to my computer and to the reinstall that way. I have Windows 10 now on a relatively new laptop, so perhaps that has something to do with the problem.
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