Default "Save As" location in Microsoft Office on a Mac

Anonymous
2019-02-28T15:24:52+00:00

When I open a file in Microsoft Office on my Mac, I typically do a "Save As" to append a version number to the file name.  However, by default the "Save As" location is NOT the folder where I opened the file (which is typical behavior in Microsoft Office on Windows...and for that matter any other application on the Mac).  Instead, the default folder is the location of the last file I SAVED in Microsoft Office.  This is extremely annoying, not typical or desired behavior, and is both baffling to me as to why it does this or how I can change to the expected behavior (if open file XYZ from folder ABC, the default "Save As" folder should be ABC).  This is literally annoying to the point that I'm ready to just ditch Microsoft Office on a Mac and move to Pages / Numbers / Keynote.  If anyone knows how to change (or why Microsoft is using this approach) please help me...

Mac OS:  Mojave 10.14.3

Microsoft Office for Mac:  Version 16.22

Posting this to Office -> Word -> Mac topic, though the issue happens to be the same across all Office products (Excel and Powerpoint).

Note, I do use OneDrive, though I just work from local directories and let OneDrive sync to the cloud.

Also note, I posted this question to a Mac forum, and everyone insisted this is a Microsoft issue as the setting for the "Save As" dialog are set by the program you are using (and I confirmed in applications like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote the behavior is correct i.e. as desired and done everywhere else...the default "Save As" is the folder where you opened the file).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2019-11-08T18:28:21+00:00

It appears I MAY have fixed the problem... I just turned off "Files-on-demand" and "File Collaboration" in my OneDrive preferences and "Save As" defaults to the current file's directory instead of the directory that I most recently saved to.

Can anyone else experiencing this problem confirm that this works as a fix?

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John Korchok 236.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2019-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

Rena left out some details. She's referring to the hidden Library folder in your user folder. To open it, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Go menu and choose Library. Look inside the window that opens for the folders she cited.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-09-04T09:46:35+00:00

    Hi Rena,

    I am having the same issue with Microsoft PowerPoint (and at times, Microsoft Word and Excel). I am a teacher teaching five different classes every day, and the common misplacement of files is causing a lot of aggravation. This only occurs with files saved in my OneDrive local sync folder--see this video.

    I'm using

    Mac OS: Mojave 10.14.6

    Microsoft Office for Mac: 16.17 (180909)

    OneDrive version: 19152.0801.0007

    Please help!!!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-09-04T09:59:05+00:00

    Hi Rena,

    I am having the same issue with Microsoft PowerPoint (and at times, Microsoft Word and Excel). I am a teacher teaching five different classes every day, and the common misplacement of files is causing a lot of aggravation. This only occurs with files saved in my OneDrive local sync folder--see this video.

    I'm using

    Mac OS: Mojave 10.14.6

    Microsoft Office for Mac: 16.17 (180909)

    OneDrive version: 19152.0801.0007

    Please help!!!!

    Hi!

    This describes my problem also!

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-09-10T15:53:13+00:00

    Hi Ac315,

    Many thanks for your video. This can let us know the scenario clearly.

    I notice that your version is far from the latest one. I would suggest you first go to Help > Check for updates to update the Office to the latest version which now should be 16.29. As we can’t reproduce the same problem, updating Office is suggested because may issues has been fixed by new updates.

    In the meantime, have you tried removing the items below:

    1. move the file to the desktop: ~Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Word.plist.

    2. move the file to the desktop: ~Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Office.plist.

    3. move the folder to the desktop: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.word

    Then re-launch your Word app to see the result. If the steps above don’t fix the issue, that means the issue is not caused by these files. You can move them back to their original locations.

    I will also try to test further with the same OS system with the same OneDrive version to see the result. Any updates will post back to let you know.

    Regards,

    Rena

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