Solutions to Resolve the "Excel not saving changes" Issue

Excel sheet sometimes fail to save or edit the documents and pops up with an error stating “Excel not saving“. The reasons are read-only mode or there are some changes pending on the sheet. If there is any function which is incomplete, it can stop you from saving the changes. In this article, we will discuss the different methods followed to resolve the error message stating “Excel not saving”.

excel not saving

How to Resolve the issue of “Excel doesn’t save changes”?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application that you can use to organize, analyse, and share data. When working in a workbook, Microsoft Excel saves the files automatically. It saves the file giving it a temporary file name and stores the file with the same folder along with the original version.

When you manually save the file, the original file gets deleted, and the temporary file is saved with the name of the original file. Due to any interruption, the excel sheet might not save correctly. You might end up getting one or many temporary files in the same folder where you tried to save your file. Furthermore, you might get alerts or error messages. Excel issues might arise when trying to save excel workbooks. This applies to your excel for Office 365, Excel 2019 and even to Excel 2016.

You can also try out the 6 options for initial troubleshoot for “Excel not saving”

Try saving the workbook by giving the file a new name
Try shifting the original worksheets to a new workbook
Change the excel file type while saving the file
Try changing the workbook location while saving the same
Use the original location when saving a new workbook
Use safe mode while saving the workbook

In case you are facing a problem in saving the workbook when running Microsoft Excel in Windows update Safe mode. Then the problem is caused by the side of a third-party add-in or the reason might be a file from one of the locations of an Excel start up. By default, you will find that as soon as you start excel, start up files are loaded. Some add-ins from third-party software vendors work together with existing Excel features by design, and some are intended to enable a seamless transition when you use a third-party product.

Usually, these third-party add-ins do not tend to intervene with the functionality of Excel. Although, some functions, like saving a file can be high flown. For testing and eliminating the possibility of a third-party Excel add-in or when a file is causing the problem of “Excel not saving” in Excel, just try saving the file in Safe mode.

Follow these steps to resolve “Excel not saving” issue

Close Excel
Click on “Start”, Then tap on point to Programs.
Just when Excel starts, press and hold Ctrl until you receive a message that shows the following
- Excel has detected that you are holding down the Ctrl key. Do you want to start Excel in safe mode?
Click on Yes

To get more information about the safe mode of Microsoft Excel, press F1 in Excel and this will open the Help menu, you have to type-safe mode in the Search box, and then you have to select Search to view the topic. If these causes are not the case with you, or if you still can’t save workbooks, you can try the following solutions to save your workbook

1. How to save the work book by giving that a new file name?

Go to the File menu
Click on Save As
Use a unique file name to save the Excel workbook

2. How to create a new workbook and move the original worksheets to it?

Press Shift+F11 to Add a filler worksheet to your workbook
Firstly, select the first sheet, then long-press the Shift key, and select the last sheet
Now group all the worksheets. You need not add the filler
Right-select the grouped sheets, and then click on Move or copy
Explore To Booklist
Click on New Book
Select OK

3. How to save the file as .xlsx?

Click on the “File” menu
Tap on the option “Save As”
A dialog box will appear, choose the other file format instead of choosing the current file format. If you are using the latest Office installation versions (i.e. Windows 7 or later versions) you have to use .xlsx or .xlsx to save the file instead of using the .xls as a file extension

4. How to save the file to a different location?

This issue can be resolved if you would try to save the notebook to another location. You can try saving it in a network drive, local hard disk or the location can be a removable drive

5. How to save a workbook to the original location?

Firstly, Start with creating an Excel workbook
Next, Click on the ”File menu”
After this, Tap on the option “Save As”
A dialog box will appear, follow these steps to get the issue resolved
- Click on the location where the original workbook was saved
After that, You will find a File name box, there give a name to the new file
Finally, Click on the Save option

6. How to save the workbook in safe mode?

Start by Restarting Windows operating system using the safe mode, then try using your local hard disk to save the workbook. Add On’s our recommendation to you is that, just activate “AutoSave”, if you want to get rid of the problems that hinder the correct file saving. If case you are experiencing certain problems while using Excel, visit the following website and get more information about the version of your office program.

Fix the cause of “Excel not saving” Error

If one or more conditions, from the following conditions are true in your case, the you might be having problems in saving a Microsoft Excel workbook. In case you have saved your workbook on a network drive, on which your system is having restricted permissions.

If you have saved an Excel workbook to a location, having insufficient storage space. Lost connection of the Excel workbook. There might be an issue related to an antivirus software program. You might have saved a shared Excel workbook. If you have tried all the troubleshooting options but still getting the Outlook error, try contacting the office 365 help desk.

Technical Support — Chat with our Experts

Finally, If you are still not able to resolve this issue, we suggest you to contact our assured experts group as I am sure that they will provide you the perfect solutions to resolve this error completely without any interruption. You can also visit our website for more information.