Turn On AutoSave in Office and Restore an Earlier Version

You want Office to save your work automatically as you type, and you want a way to go back to an earlier copy if something goes wrong.

Why: AutoSave and Version History only work when the file lives in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint and you have a Microsoft 365 subscription. A file saved to your local hard drive can’t use either feature — it falls back to AutoRecover, which only saves every 10 minutes. So the first job is getting the file into the cloud.

Step 1: Put the file in the cloud so AutoSave can switch on

AutoSave turns on by itself once the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.

1. With your document open in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, go to File > Save As.
2. Choose your OneDrive (personal or work) or SharePoint location.
3. Pick a subfolder, type a file name, and click Save.

The AutoSave toggle sits at the top-left of the app window (in the title bar). Once the file is in the cloud, it flips to On automatically and your changes save every few seconds. If you open a file that already lives in OneDrive, AutoSave is on from the start.

Note: AutoSave doesn’t work with older formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) or with CSV files. Save as the modern format (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) first.

Step 2: Open Version History

Because every save is captured, you can step back through earlier copies.

1. Open the file from OneDrive or SharePoint.
2. Click the file name in the title bar at the top of the window, then select Version History. (In Office 2016–2021 the path is File > Info > Version History, or File > History.)
3. A pane lists earlier versions with their date and time.

Step 3: Open and restore an earlier version

1. In the Version History pane, click a version to open it in a separate window so you can check it before committing.
2. If it’s the copy you want back, click Restore.

That version becomes the current one. The copy you restored from isn’t deleted — it stays in the history, so you can always go forward again.

FAQ

The AutoSave toggle is greyed out. The file isn’t in OneDrive or SharePoint, or it’s in an old format. Use File > Save As to save it to a cloud folder as .docx/.xlsx/.pptx, and the toggle will become active.

How many versions are kept? On a personal OneDrive account you get the last 25 versions. On a work or school account, the number depends on how your SharePoint library is configured.

Will AutoSave overwrite my original on purpose? It saves continuously, so if you make changes you didn’t mean to keep, don’t rely on “undo” later — use Version History to restore the earlier copy instead. To experiment safely, use File > Save a Copy first.

Sources: Microsoft Support — How do I turn on AutoSave? · Microsoft Support — View previous versions of Office files