Save Documents Locally

One area of frustration we often hear from our users is about files going missing after saving them. This is commonly due to the file inadvertently being saved to a cloud or OneDrive folder that the user previously hadn’t accessed, thanks to Microsoft 365 pushing for cloud storage as the default folder location. For those who aren’t embracing cloud storage, you can disable these settings to work locally by default (e.g. non-cloud based storage). In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, click the File menu and select Options. In the Options window, select Save and tweak the options as follows:

• Uncheck the option for AutoSave files stored in the cloud by default.

• Make sure the AutoRecover file location is pointing to a local folder, typically C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\[name of program].

• Check the option for Save to computer by default.

• In the field for Default local file location, add the name of the local folder to which you want to save the files you create in each application, such as C:\Users\[your username]\Documents.

Changes these settings should make it easier to save your documents and spreadsheets to your computer and not the cloud - at least until Microsoft changes things on us again!