set new "autosave" toggle to off by default

Anonymous
2017-09-21T20:22:19+00:00

there is a new feature that has an "autosave"  toggle per document opened. i have 1000s of excel files since the 1990s and do not want to turn off autosave for all of them. how can i disable this by default? id like to turn it off completely if possible, it's something that is not only unwanted, it's actively negatively impacting my workflow. i'm  considering trying to download an earlier version of excel that does not have the 'autosave' toggle. this is not to be confused with autorecover. 

if this is not possible, can this be escalated to the product team to add as a feature?

i cannot express how much i hate the autosave toggle and need it gone.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-04T01:14:34+00:00

    This used to be the proper workaround, as I had the same issue. However since mid-December some update (windows update, office update, or onedrive update - not sure which one) has caused this to no longer work! Incredibly frustrating.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-03T18:08:36+00:00

    Re: DontAutoSave registry settings

    I have set all of there and it still does not resolve the problem.  

    Stated as simply as I can.  Here is the way the problem exhibits itself

    1. Start with One-drive set for syncing all files in the One-drive folder - This is done by right-clicking the little cloud icon, selecting sync 
    2. Open an Excel file and save it to a Non "One-drive" local folder
    3. Copy that file from a Non-"One-drive" local folder to a "One-drive" local folder
    4. Re-open the file, makes some changes and try to save it - Excel hangs 
    5. Close Excel and don't let it try to recover anything
    6. Notice that the file is actually saved to the local "One-drive" folder
    7. Open the file - It is Ok but there is a document recovery message that a file on my share-point account failed
    8. Close Excel

    Now - Work around

    1. Pause One-drive syncing - Note this is "all files" NOT the Office option "Use Office 2016 to sync Office files I open"  That has always been UNCHECKED on my computer
    2. Reopen the file in step-6
    3. Make changes - File saves with no problem
    4. Resume syncing and repeat step-9
    5. Excel saves the file but crashes trying to save to some "Share point" drive

    Bottom line

    I want to use One-drive to sync all of my files but do not want the "AutoSave" feature.  I work alone and never share.  I have wasted countless hours on this problem and just want it turned off.  Microsoft should honor the "One-drive" checkbox that says: "Use Office 2016 to sync Office files I open"

    Here is the link that describes this option: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-Office-2016-to-sync-Office-files-that-I-open-8a409b0c-ebe1-4bfa-a08e-998389a9d823

    It says:

    To stop using Office 2016 to sync Office files, clear the Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I opencheck box.

    Note: If you turn off this setting, Office will no longer be able to automatically merge changes from different versions of documents. You'll also be prompted to upload a new copy of a file before you can share it directly from an Office desktop app.

    Please fix this!!!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-22T20:01:38+00:00

    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

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-12-17T21:54:41+00:00

    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.

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-12-16T22:00:28+00:00

    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.

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