AutoSave switch greyed-out.

Anonymous
2017-08-04T15:40:16+00:00

A couple of days ago, I noticed that the save icon at the top of the Excel window in version 1707 of Office 365 has been moved a little to the right because a new greyed-out AutoSave button has appeared. It is set to "Off". 

Does anyone know how to turn it on?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-08-04T16:25:12+00:00

this is from:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-is-AutoSave-6d6bd723-ebfd-4e40-b5f6-ae6e8088f7a5?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

"AutoSave is enabled when working on a file that is saved to OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online. If the file is saved to another location, then AutoSave is disabled. This will happen if your file is on a SharePoint On Premises site, a file server, or saved to a local path like C:.

There are other reasons AutoSave could be disabled as well. For example, if your file is in an older format like .xls, .ppt, or .doc., it will be disabled. It will also be disabled if your presentation is in slide show mode, or if your workbook contains password protection. If AutoSave is disabled, you can always hover over the AutoSave switch and a tooltip will tell you why it's off."

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-08T19:28:29+00:00

    This apparently is not a fault, but is a design feature of an update to Excel. I understand that it is proposed to restore normal auto-save for ‘locally stored’ files in a future update.

    Why this was done is a mystery!

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-08T03:07:14+00:00

    This issue still persists; I'm working on a file saved locally on my storage (not primary) HDD. Can't determine why this is off and disabled, other than the program is irritated I'm not electing to use OneDrive? When I saved a copy to my OneDrive folder, magically the option is enabled and turned on, with a little notification telling me that they've got my back.

    Sure, document recovery exists but a temporary-storage backup file that another user of my computer could inadvertently discard when they run excel is notthe same as a document that automatically backs-up your active file periodically as you work. This is a public school computer nightmare.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-10-26T19:53:44+00:00

    Correction. AutoSave on my PCs now works as expected in Excel and PowerPoint but still not Word.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-26T19:47:07+00:00

    I have same issue with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents saved on my OneDrive folder on my Windows 10 PCs.  Two of them. I've worked with MS via this forum to reset OneDrive and "fix" Office 365. Neither step worked. For now I've just removed the AutoSave control from the Quick Access menu.

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