How to Undo New Automatic Cloud Save Settings in Word
Microsoft is changing the way you save Word documents in Windows. “Now you don’t have to worry about saving documents,” the official statement reads . In addition, new files will be saved to OneDrive as soon as you create them.
The new default means Word will work more like Google Docs: Any document you create will be published to the cloud before you even save it. Close the document, and you’ll be prompted to save it or delete it. You’ll also be able to choose a file name from the same window.
I can imagine that some people would like this approach, and Microsoft certainly positions it as a positive in its announcement. However, some people prefer to keep files, especially personal ones, on their computers rather than in the cloud. This is especially true if you use Word as a notepad, quickly jotting down things that you don’t need to keep for long.
If you prefer local storage, don’t worry: You can go back to the traditional way of creating documents, which doesn’t save them to the cloud until you want them to. In Word for Windows, go to File > Advanced > Options , then go to the Save section. Here, you can turn off the Create new files in the cloud automatically option.
If you uncheck this box, files will only be saved to the cloud after you choose to save them. You can also choose to have the default save location be on your hard drive, avoiding the cloud entirely. It’s a little more complicated than I’d like, but it’s nice to still have the option.
The new default save scheme is currently enabled for Insider users with Word for Windows version 2509 installed, meaning it hasn’t affected most people at the time of writing (but will eventually).