Wheres the auto save feature? Why not enabled?

Question

Wheres the auto save feature? Why not enabled?

W 40

Stunned to find no option for auto save on the full Home version of 2024 for Excell. Is that true ? Or is there a way to turn it on ? Cant seem to find it….. why would MS not give users that functionality? PS - i done use cloud or one drive - on mac.

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Answer accepted by question author

Stefan Blom 357.1K MVP Volunteer Moderator

If you edit a document which is saved to OneDrive, you get automatic saving.

Full support requires that you have a subscription version of Office, such as Microsoft 365 Personal.

Automatic saving is never supported for documents on your local drive (that is, not even for a subscription version of Office). For local documents, the AutoRecover feature brings basic security when an Office apps has crashed (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/collab-files/recover-files-in-office-for-mac).

W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:17:16.85+00:00

I thought it was in my version of office for mac 2016?
W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:19:01.31+00:00

Why would MS choose to not give auto save feature for local saves? What benefits them in doing so?
Stefan Blom 357.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-11-02T13:34:36.65+00:00

Why would MS choose to not give auto save feature for local saves?

Sorry, but nobody here can answer why questions. Only Microsoft will be able to tell. As far as I know, they haven't commented on the decision to enable automatic saving only for their online storage.

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/collab-files/what-is-autosave .
W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:39:06.0433333+00:00

What benefits them in doing so? Forcing people to their cloud?

1 additional answer

Your answer

W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:17:16.85+00:00

I thought it was in my version of office for mac 2016?
W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:19:01.31+00:00

Why would MS choose to not give auto save feature for local saves? What benefits them in doing so?
Stefan Blom 357.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-11-02T13:34:36.65+00:00

Why would MS choose to not give auto save feature for local saves?

Sorry, but nobody here can answer why questions. Only Microsoft will be able to tell. As far as I know, they haven't commented on the decision to enable automatic saving only for their online storage.

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/collab-files/what-is-autosave .
W 40 Reputation points

2026-11-02T13:39:06.0433333+00:00

What benefits them in doing so? Forcing people to their cloud?

Answer 1

W 40

Still would be nice to have some additional thoughts on what MS has to gain by not offering the save to local disk option????

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 438.5K Reputation points

2026-11-02T17:14:06.9133333+00:00

I doubt that Microsoft has anything to gain.

Keep in mind that Microsoft is a developer which provides Office for the Apple Macintosh Operating System. As such they are not free to do whatever they please. They have to comply with the requirements & restrictions stipulated by Apple. AFAIK, automatic saving to the startup device is considered by Apple to be a security risk. I know of no programs which include automatic saving to the startup device, including Apple's own programs.