Save your files

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Guided support can provide digital solutions for Office problems

Saving a file to OneDrive or SharePoint allows you to access it on any device and enables features such as AutoSave and Version History, which can help prevent data loss if your file closes unexpectedly.

Tip: To save your files to your personal OneDrive, sign in to Office with your Microsoft account. To save your files to OneDrive for work or school, sign in with your work or school account.

In Office apps, you have the option to:

• Save your file
• Pin your favorite save location
• Turn on AutoRecovery
• Save your file in a different file format
• Save your file in an earlier version of the Office app
• Open Document format

Save your Office file

Note: If your file is stored on OneDrive or SharePoint the command may be called Save a Copy, but the functionality is the same. (See also Where is Save As?)

• OneDrive will appear in your Save As or Save a Copy list if you have a OneDrive account.
• If you don't have a OneDrive account, you can sign up for free.

Pin your favorite save location

When you’re done saving your file, you can “pin” the location you saved to. This keeps the location available so you can use it again to save another file. If you tend to save things to the same folder or location a lot, this can be a great time saver! You can pin as many locations as you want.

1. Select File, then Save As.
2. Under Save As, select Recent. Point to the location you want to pin from the recent list and a push pin image appears. Select the push pin to pin the location.
3. Every time you save a file, this location will appear at the top of the list under Recent and Pinned.

Turn on AutoRecovery

Office apps automatically save your files while you're working on them, in case something happens, for example the power going out. This is called AutoRecovery. This isn’t the same as you saving your file, so don’t be tempted to rely on AutoRecovery. Save your file, often. But Autorecovery is a good way to have a backup, just in case something happens.

Make sure AutoRecovery is turned on:

1. Select File, then Options.
2. In the app's Option dialog box, select Save.
3. Under Save file type, make sure Save AutoRecover information every (#) minutes is checked.
4. Set the minutes for how often you want the app to back up your work, then select OK.

Save your file in a different file format

1. Select File, then Save As.
2. Under Save As, select Browse, pick a path and file folder, then name the file.
3. In the Save as type list, pick the file format you want, then select Save.

Save your file in an earlier version of the Office app

In newer versions of Office, you can save files to an earlier version of the app by selecting the version from the Save as type list in the Save As box.

Open Document format

Microsoft 365 supports the ability to save a file in the OpenDocument format (.odp).

When you use the Save As or Save a Copy command, the option to save in .odp format is listed at the end of the Save as type list of options.