set new "autosave" toggle to off by default

Hi all,

I had the same frustrations. The registry edits that Luiz F. Lucena and Kent Jacobs referenced with the link to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4036334/how-to-disable-autosave-in-office-365-proplus seem to be working for me. Thanks guys!

To simplify things for anyone reading this, I uploaded some ready-made registry scripts that'll get the job done. Here's the OneDrive link:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AKK7f7HOlojNs6to

I highly recommend everyone use the official FEEDBACK HUB (available from the Windows store) to let Microsoft know that we'd like this to be easily toggle-able. I understand why many people would like the feature on, but for some, especially those of us who've developed a particular workflow, it's more hindrance than benefit. For myself and like many of you, I've ended up with multiple copies of files. I've occasionally ended up with the wrong version of a file being saved as the most recent version because of how quickly I've made changes to the file. I do like the integration with OneDrive, I just prefer saving changes at my own pace, relying instead on the AutoRecovery and File History features to help against potential data loss.

Anyway, for your reference, here's exactly what the uploaded registry file(s) do/es:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel]

"DontAutoSave"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\PowerPoint]

"DontAutoSave"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word]

"DontAutoSave"=dword:00000001

I hope someone will find it helpful!

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AKK7f7HOlojNs6to

The linked 'solution' MS webpage states that "It [AutoSave] can't be disabled on the application level." and then proceeds to provide registry modifications for the office applications that that may be intended to do just that. 

I'm confused.

Thanks for trying to help.

1, It's ridiculous that I need to do a registry edit just to turn this feature off. I'm not a power user.

2, I tried to find the registry subkeys mentioned in the link but they don't seem to be there in my registry. (Or I'm looking in the wrong place.)

Bah humbug Microsoft. Just let me do my work. If you're going to change something at least give me the option to switch it off if I find it unhelpful.

I had the exact same problem. Two copies, messages from OneDrive that it "can't sync". I just want to save files to OneDrive so they are backed up and accessible from other locations. I don't need all of the "sharing" capability turned on.

It was all good until the latest Win10 update and then it started defaulting to Autosave and being difficult to turn off.

Here's the fix!

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4036334/how-to-disable-autosave-in-office-365-proplus

Registry edit.

"we cannot turn off the AutoSave feature by default in Excel 2016"

Ugh. Frustrating. I have exactly the same issue. I keep all my docs, etc, in OneDrive by default. Everything has been fine until this update.

Now the autosave is not syncing properly, and I end up with 2 copies of everything. The fix is clear: turn off AutoSave by default. But no. Apparently this cannot be done.

We pay (I think) a fairly high fee p.a. for Office. And now an update I didn't want has been foisted on me, and I can't even opt out? Perhaps opting out of Office365 is the only way to clear this mess.