All MSFT Excel files are opening with this prompt - "this file has been renamed we recommend saving it now to get the new name" Nothing has been changed - how do I stop this from happening?

Anonymous
2024-03-20T01:55:54+00:00

"This file has been renamed. We recommend saving it now to get the new name." I X out of this message. Then I get an i in a blue circle and this message "We need you to save the file to finish renaming it. Add-ins and VBA might not work until you save. Save in a white box." I save and then exit. I then reopen the same file an X in a red circle and the message "UPLOAD BLOCKED We ran into a problem with this file and can't save any new changes. Please save a copy to avoid losing your work" with 2 options "Save a Copy" or "Discard Changes". I saved a copy with a different name and then reopen it and it's the same issue.

My version is up to date and it's called Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-04-20T20:12:15+00:00

    We have been having exactly the same issues today.

    If I save the excel files as the old 97-2003 format I can open them and work in them, but on the excel workbook we seem to be going round in circles. I can open the old format excel files just fine. It seems to be the excel workbook files only that are affected.

    I have tried saving the file as a different name, but it is still happened.

    Have exactly the same messages as the previous user, Sarah and also the d.docs.live.net as Christine.

    I first noticed it about a month ago, but now it has just got so much worse. Every file you open seems to have the same issue.

    Glad to hear I am not the only one- I have been trying to resolve this issue since my husband had it at around 11am BST today. It is driving us crazy and wishing we still had an an the machine version of excel rather than the subscription one. Never had this issue on the old machine in 10 years.

    Me thinks then that something has been going on with either excel on the subscription version, or if anyone else uses one drive for backup and something has been moved around??

    It seems to be strange that we all have the same issue, especially when we haven't changed the name or moved anything around.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-04-22T01:48:48+00:00

    Exactly the same issue here and it's driving me insane. Started from what I can ascertain around 4 weeks ago and makes it impossible to manage any living document because how would I ever find it again if I allow the stupid rename?

    For example, the main excel sheet I use is a membership list that is a live document, updated regularly so renaming it every time I do anything in it just isn't practical

    For the record, I don't even use ONEDRIVE and don't know how to. It's just something that was on my latest laptop.

    Absolutely NOTHING has changed on my system except perhaps anything that happened in one of the updates.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-04-22T07:39:20+00:00

    we found last night that the changes we were making were not even updating on a document and we have come to the conclusion everything is useless now as we don't trust the system any more.

    I'm getting a local IT guy to look at our machine and his advice is ditch microsoft 365 and go back to a desktop version and turn off onedrive on the computer. Apparently you can get desktop versions for around £20 now. Then rely on traditional back up methods to an external drive.

    Technology seems to creating more issues that what it helps with now!

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-04-26T11:57:15+00:00

    This exact same issue started for me during the afternoon of April 14, 2024. I was opening/editing/saving an Excel workbook file several times that day, and suddenly I'm getting these messages and losing that file. It's my "Bible", so I am not happy!!

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-04-28T00:27:22+00:00

    Following this. I'm running into the same issue in both Word and Excel - Microsoft 365.

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