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.

It is definitely widespread! I believe for the most part, the majority of us are aware of this glitch, and have made sure to check that the box is not checked every time we open the damn thing. My issue is that all the settings seem to be correct, but it still won't auto save. I say seem because excel settings become more more complicated with each passing year. Once you've mastered the lingo they change it again... The class I took in 2010 was obsolete the moment I completed it lol Another issue I can't seem to figure out is why that box is checked in one of my workbooks, and it won't let me uncheck it. Anybody know how to fix this? Unfortunately this is not the only workbook I have the autosave issue with. Whether that box is checked or not, it doesn't autosave.

Hi, We're currently investigating your concern so that we could validate if this has something to do with Excel. Have you tried to save AutoRecovery information every 1 minute? Also have you installed the latest Office updates on your computer? As per initial troubleshooting, we recommend that you repair your Excel app to scan and repair corrupted files on your computer. You may refer to this link for the steps. We look forward to your reply.

I'm having an issue with autosave where I tell it to autosave to a particular location (not the default) but it continues to save to the default. I opened a ticket with MS support. Not sure if that's related to the problems others are experiencing here.. have been able to reproduce this issue on 3 different computers with 3 different OS's in Excel or Word..

I am piling on here, but I just lost 5 hours of work. Why did Windows 10 crash/restart for no reason as I am working on the computer? No idea. Why was there no AutoSaved version of my spreadsheet in the recovered / autosaved files folder? No idea. This feature is ESSENTIAL and it does not work. MSFT, you suck. Please put someone on this who can figure it out and fix it. You have known about it for months now.

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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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

2018-01-10T19:45:38+00:00

It is definitely widespread! I believe for the most part, the majority of us are aware of this glitch, and have made sure to check that the box is not checked every time we open the damn thing. My issue is that all the settings seem to be correct, but it still won't auto save. I say seem because excel settings become more more complicated with each passing year. Once you've mastered the lingo they change it again... The class I took in 2010 was obsolete the moment I completed it lol

Another issue I can't seem to figure out is why that box is checked in one of my workbooks, and it won't let me uncheck it. Anybody know how to fix this?

Unfortunately this is not the only workbook I have the autosave issue with. Whether that box is checked or not, it doesn't autosave.
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Anonymous

2018-01-11T17:35:22+00:00

Hi,

We're currently investigating your concern so that we could validate if this has something to do with Excel. Have you tried to save AutoRecovery information every 1 minute? Also have you installed the latest Office updates on your computer?

As per initial troubleshooting, we recommend that you repair your Excel app to scan and repair corrupted files on your computer. You may refer to this link for the steps.

We look forward to your reply.
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Anonymous

2018-01-15T02:50:56+00:00

I'm having an issue with autosave where I tell it to autosave to a particular location (not the default) but it continues to save to the default. I opened a ticket with MS support. Not sure if that's related to the problems others are experiencing here.. have been able to reproduce this issue on 3 different computers with 3 different OS's in Excel or Word..
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Anonymous

2018-01-29T02:31:25+00:00

I am piling on here, but I just lost 5 hours of work. Why did Windows 10 crash/restart for no reason as I am working on the computer? No idea. Why was there no AutoSaved version of my spreadsheet in the recovered / autosaved files folder? No idea. This feature is ESSENTIAL and it does not work. MSFT, you suck. Please put someone on this who can figure it out and fix it. You have known about it for months now.
Was this answer helpful?

2 people found this answer helpful.

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