Q. I have lost some or all of my work a few times in Excel. I can recover most of it because of AutoRecover, but quite a bit of it is sometimes missing. Is there a way to AutoRecover closer to real time?
A. By default, AutoRecover is set to save every 10 minutes. I know that I don’t like redoing my work even from 10 minutes ago, so I have my AutoRecover set to save every minute. To do this, click File on the Ribbon, choose Options, then Save. Toward the top of the Excel Options window, change the “10” to the right of Save AutoRecover information every to a “1.” Click OK. See the screenshot below for the Excel Options window.
AutoRecover is separate from AutoSave, which is available only when a file is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365 and you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
You can access a video demonstration of updating AutoRecover settings in Excel below.
About the author
Kelly L. Williams, CPA, Ph.D., MBA, is an associate professor of accounting at the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.
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