OneDrive AutoSave isn't working, and it's creating new files instead of saving over my original file.

Anonymous
2024-03-25T00:08:24+00:00

For years I've been using OneDrive and whenever I open a file on my PC, "AutoSave" is automatically turned on. And when I make changes to my document, that specific file gets updated.

But for some reason, yesterday that changed. Now "AutoSave" is turned off by default. And when I turn it on, it tells me that I need to upload it to OneDrive. When i click OK, it creates a NEW file in OneDrive/Documents folder. The original file that I opened in (for example) OneDrive\Other\Recipes never got changed. So now I have 2 files. One is in OneDrive/Documents (the changed version) and the unchanged version is in OneDrive\Other\Recipes.

It works perfectly fine on my mobile app. When i open my document in OneDrive\Other\Recipes, it automatically saves changes as I modify the document. And it overwrites the original file. It doesn't create a NEW file in the OneDrive/Documents folder. That is what my PC did for years, up until yesterday.

I've removed and reinstalled OneDrive. That didnt help.

I've reset Onedrive. That didn't help.

My "AutoSave by Default" box is checked in Options/Save in Excel and Word.

Can someone please help me figure out how to fix this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

45 answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-31T22:06:02+00:00

    I am experiencing this same frustration! I got a new laptop, logged into my OneDrive, and am now being required to create duplicate files in order to have the Auto Save function applied to the file. This is cluttering up everything and causing a workflow disruption.

    Microsoft, please fix this for us all! I was so happy to have moved all my files to OneDrive for this lifesaving feature... If it's not there for me, I'm not sure what makes OneDrive more beneficial than other cloud platforms.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-23T13:50:03+00:00

    This is EXACTLY my problem as well and is quite frustrating, especially since it's on my work laptop and my company's IT department gives us practically ZERO control to do anything to try to fix it ourselves. Sounds like not much I could do on my own, though.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-09T16:08:36+00:00

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-03T21:17:17+00:00

    Out of nowhere, it's now working. Microsoft must have realized it was a bug and fixed it on an update. Now all my files are automatically set to AutoSave and it doesn't create a duplicate file in the Documents folder anymore.

    It's frustrating the the support people at Microsoft kept saying it was normal for Autosave to create a duplicate file instead of overwriting the existing file in the same location. I've been using it for years and it never did that. Now all of a sudden it's working again.

    I hope everyone else's problem is also fixed too!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-03T14:31:28+00:00

    Our business has this same issue where a file that is saved on SharePoint will have autosave turned on by default but then each day the file will go to AutoSave off when accessed and then asks to sign into OneDrive when turning AutoSave on. AutoSave will turn on, but it then creates a copy that lives at the personal OneDrive level. For instance, I will go into a folder that shows its path as C:\Users\ComputerUserprofile\OurSharePointDomain\SharePointSiteLibrary

    When the file on this folder is accessed and AutoSave is turned off, our user will turn on AutoSave and then receive a prompt asking to Sign in to OneDrive - (Business name) or OneDrive with no other text after OneDrive

    When OneDrive - (Business name) is selected, another prompt comes up saying "Just a moment. We're uploading a copy of your document. You will continue to work on the uploaded copy."

    This then creates a copy that is the same file name with a (1) appended to the end. The files are the most up to date file format (.xlsx, .docx, etc.) but this happens to them each day.

    Knowing this is a bug with OneDrive or how OneDrive interacts with SharePoint at least gives me something to tell them but can Microsoft really not address this issue quickly? It creates a lot of double work and paranoia of losing data as a result.

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments