Make Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint Save Files Every Minute

All versions of Microsoft Office programs have a feature called AutoRecover. The AutoRecover feature is active by default and it automatically saves Office documents that you are working on every few minutes, and in case, if your system or MS Office crashes due to any reason, this feature lets you restore the file to the last AutoRecover point.

One must not confuse the AutoRecover with the AutoSave. AutoSave feature is available on Google Docs or Sheets etc. when you are working online. On the other hand, the AutoRecover is just like a restore point created by MS Office where Office automatically saves your file that you are working on behind the scene.

When you relaunch the same Office program, for instance, MS Word, after a crash, the program gives you a chance to restore your document to the latest auto recover point created by the AutoRecover feature.

By default, the AutoRecover creates a recovery point of your files every 10 minutes, which is a good frequency, but if you want to reduce this time and save your file more frequently, Office lets you reduce the time to 1 minute.

In this article, we are going to work with MS Word. The same directions apply to Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office programs. You need to make the changes for each Office program independently.

Click the File menu in the top left corner.

Now, click the Options to open the Options dialog.

In the left pane, locate and click on the Save tab.

Change the field titled, “Save AutoRecover information every”, to 1 minute. Now click the OK button.

Entering a lower number might slow down the Office program. However, for medium to high-end computers, it is not noticeable. If you feel that the Office program has slowed down, you can change the value to 2 or 5 minutes.

If you wish to turn off the AutoRecover feature in Office.

In the Save tab, uncheck the “AutoRecover information every” option and then click the OK button.