set new "autosave" toggle to off by default

What a horrible implementation, and even worse that it is on by default, and changing it globally is so obscured and stated as not possible. It interrupts my normal versioning workflow which has worked for *decades* without data loss... until this "feature."

A particularly malevolent quirk is that I was reviewing many old documents from an archive on OneDrive that was not to be altered and both Word and PowerPoint would auto-save/sync them as soon as I opened them; I wasn't making any changes. This meant that the important file modification dates, going back into 2011 and 2012, were wiped out with the current date/time. Worse, the OneDrive version history apparently sets the last version date in 2017, so there's no way to revert and retain the last mod date. I had to actually pull out old backup hard drives and restore all the files I reviewed to restore the mod dates.

I'm also at loss why MS decided to force users in changing behavior. This AutoSave is going to cost me time to recover prior versions of my documents on a weekly basis. I'm also going to ruin other people's documents that I open/read and accidentally modify. I will keep look for ways to switch this AutoSave off by default, or I will revert to an older version. Why is MS so rude towards its paying customers?

This "feature" literally BREAKS Office, not only for me, but for my entire company.   We're not a bunch of tech savvy people, we're a bunch of mental health therapists, who regularly open shared FORMS and start typing in them before wanting to print them but NOT save the changes, only to discover that opps, nevermind, now we've screwed up the original. 

I rewrote a graduate syllabus for the Spring Term, and really, really, really, really wanted to keep the old syllabus from the fall term, but of course FORGOT that my edits were being automatically saved every step of the way, instead of letting me "save as" when I'm ready. 

It is categorically stupid to have something like this forced on users with no options.  I cannot express just how much I find this to be a product-BREAKING change.  I am not seriously trying to decide on alternative options to Microsoft Office.

When you say that this is a new feature that is available, what you meant to say that this is a new feature that is crammed down no matter weather it is helpful or detrimental to your work, right?

You can turn off AutoSave for each file that you want to only save changes manually using the AutoSave toggle at the top left of the application. Your preference will be remembered next time you open the file again.

If you accidentally make changes to a document, you can easily revert to an earlier version of the document using Version History, which you can find via the Document Titlebar.

Additionally, if you want to turn AutoSave off by default for all cloud files, you can do so through File > Options > Save in each app where you want it disabled. For example, in Word, simply uncheck “AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word” and then restart for the changes to take effect.

When it’s turned off, you can manually turn on AutoSave by using the AutoSave toggle at the top left of the application window or the Alt + 1 accelerator key.

Please note that AutoSave refers to the new feature for Office 365 subscribers that enables a more seamless experience, including simultaneous real-time editing when working with files stored on the cloud. For files that don’t have AutoSave, such as files on your local hard drive, or for non-subscribers, there is still AutoRecover, which can help recover changes if you forget to save manually.  To learn more, please see https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-is-AutoSave-6d6bd723-ebfd-4e40-b5f6-ae6e8088f7a5.