Excel document not saving

Профессионализм и отличная репутация разработчиков вовсе не является гарантией, что созданный ими программный продукт будет работать идеально, поскольку появление ошибок часто бывает связано с внешними факторами. Ошибка «Документ не сохранен» в Microsoft Excel относится как раз к таким случаям. На официальном сайте компании описываются возможные причины неполадки и предлагается несколько решений, но этот список далеко не полный.

Существуют также и другие причины, по которым Excel может не сохранять документ.

Таковыми являются прерывание процесса сохранения, проблемы с сетью, аппаратные неисправности носителя и отсутствие у пользователя необходимых разрешений. Ниже мы рассмотрим их чуть более подробно, но перед этим стоит попробовать простой, но вполне эффективный способ.

Создайте в Excel новый документ и скопируйте в него всё содержимое файла, который не удается сохранить. Сохраните новый документ. Если проблема не устранена, переходим к следующим решениям.

Исключите прерывания

Ошибка «Документ не сохранен» появится, если в момент сохранения файла процесс был прерван нажатием клавиши Esc или вмешательством в него стороннего программного обеспечения. Попробуйте временно закрыть запущенные приложения, после чего сохраните документ.

Проверьте локальную сеть

Если проблема возникла при сохранении документа в сетевую папку, следует проверить работу локальной сети и само локальное подключение. Если с подключением всё в порядке, проверьте задержку при отправке данных по локальной сети, высокий пинг вполне может стать причиной ошибки при сохранении Excel-файла.

Проблемы с накопителем

Если документ сохраняется на внешний накопитель, убедитесь, что он определяется в системе и на него записываются файлы. Проверьте состояние файловой системы накопителя, просканируйте его на предмет поврежденных секторов.

Отсутствие прав на запись

Убедитесь, что папка, в которую вы сохраняете файл, имеет права на запись. С ошибкой сохранения чаще всего приходится сталкиваться пользователям, не имеющим прав администратора, сохранении файла в системные каталоги или каталоги, принадлежащие другому пользователю. Создайте отдельную папку на диске D и попробуйте сохранить документ в нее. Если нужно узнать имя владельца папки, зайдите в ее свойства и нажмите на вкладку «Безопасность» кнопку «Дополнительно».

Запустите Excel в безопасном режиме

Если не один из вышеперечисленных способов не помог, запустите второй экземпляр Excel в безопасном режиме. Для этого вызовите нажатием Win + R окошко быстрого запуска и выполните в нём команду excel /safe.

Будучи запущенным в безопасном режиме, редактор отключает все плагины и надстройки, которые могут работать некорректно. После этого скопируйте из отредактированного документа все данные, перенесите их во второй экземпляр Excel и сохраните обычным путем.

Microsoft Excel документ не сохранен? Проверьте надстройки стороннего разработчика и разрешения, убедитесь в наличии места на диске, попробуйте сохраниться с новым именем или в другое место, измените формат, отключите на ПК / ноутбуке антивирусную программу и убедитесь в наличии доступа. Ниже подробно рассмотрим, в чем могут быть причины такой ошибки, и как ее устранить.

Причины, почем не сохранен Microsoft Excel

Для начала выделим несколько причин, почему файл Эксель не сохраняется, хотя вы все делаете правильно. Этому может быть несколько объяснений:

• надстройки сторонних разработчиков;
• сбои в процессе сохранения;
• отсутствие необходимых разрешений;
• утрачено соединение с Microsoft Excel;
• недостаток места на диске;
• действие антивирусной программы;
• отсутствие доступа;
• длина пути больше 218 знаков;
• нестабильное подключение к Сети (если документ Microsoft Excel не сохранен при работе через Интернет);
• прочие проблемы.

Выше приведен основные причины, почему Эксель не сохраняет документ, что позволяет сделать выводы по дальнейшим шагам.

Что делать

Зная возможные проблемы, связанные с Microsoft Excel, можно принять решение по дальнейшим шагам.

С чего начать

В ситуации, когда не сохраняется файл Excel, специалисты рекомендуют начать с приведенных ниже действий.

Сохранитесь с новым именем:

1. Войдите в «Файл» и жмите «Сохранить как…».
2. Выберите другое имя.

Переместите первоначальный лист в новый документ:

1. Откройте новый документ.
2. Добавьте лист заполнителя с помощью Shift+F11.
3. Сгруппируйте листы. Для этого жмите 1-й лист данных, а после зафиксируйте Shift и кликните на последний лист данных.
4. Жмите на сгруппированные листы правой кнопкой мышки и «Переместить или скопировать».
5. В перечне «В книгу» выберите «Новая книга».
6. Жмите «ОК».

После этих действий активные листы перемещаются в новый документ.

Измените формат, если Эксель не дает сохранить файл:

1. Жмите на «Файл».
2. Выберите «Сохранить как».
3. В перечне «Тип …» выберите формат, который будет отличаться от текущего. Попробуйте сохраниться в XLSM или XLSX.

Сохранитесь в другое место:

1. Жмите «Файл».
2. Выберите «Сохранить как».
3. Впишите имя и выберите другое место, к примеру, съемный или второй диск.

Такой метод может выручить, если в Экселе не сохраняется документ из-за временных сбоев, большой длины файла, отсутствия разрешений, конфликт доступа и т. д.

Проверьте, будет ли сохранен документ Microsoft Excel в исходное место:

1. Создайте файл Эксель.
2. Войдите в «Файл» и «Сохранить как».
3. В поле «Папка» жмите на папку, где хранится исходный файл.
4. В поле «Имя файла» введите имя для нового документа Microsoft Excel.
5. Выберите «Сохранить».

Если документ не сохранен, причиной может быть большая длина пути, конфликт доступа, дефицит свободного места и т. д.

Дополнительные шаги

Рассмотрим еще ряд шагов, что делать, если Microsoft Excel документ не сохранен. При этом каждое из указанных ниже действий может помочь в устранении ошибки.

Проверьте, будет ли Microsoft Excel сохранен в безопасном режиме

Распространенные причины, почему Эксель не сохраняет файл — конфликт с антивирусом, применение надстроек сторонних организаций и т. д. В таком случае попробуйте перезапустить Виндовс в Safe Mode и сохранитесь на локальный жесткий диск. Если для хранения книги применяется сетевая папка, перезапустите ОС в указанном выше режиме и с поддержкой сети. После этого проверьте, сохранен ли документ Microsoft Excel. Если все нормально, снова перезагрузитесь в обычном режиме и повторите действие.

При неудачном сохранении после стандартной загрузки, причина, скорей всего — пользовательская надстройка. Для решения проблемы удалите ее.

Закройте лишние приложения

Причиной, почему в Эксель документ не сохранен, может быть прерывание процесса. К примеру, при выполнении работы могла быть нажата кнопка Esc, или имело место вмешательство сторонней программы, аппаратный / программный сбой. Для решения проблемы временно закройте запущенные программы, а после попробуйте, будет ли сохранен документ Microsoft Excel или нет.

Проверьте работу сети

При появлении проблемы при добавлении Microsoft Excel в сетевую папку убедитесь в работе локальной сети. Если подключение работает корректно, проверьте пинг, который может быть причиной проблем.

Убедитесь в наличии места на диске

Банальная причина, почему не сохраняются документы Microsoft Excel — отсутствие места на диске. Если его недостаточно, программа не сможет завершить процесс и отобразит информацию о переполненности мест. В таком случае нужно очистить место и просканировать жесткий диск на факт ошибок.

Получите нужные разрешения

Если документ Microsoft Excel не сохранен, причиной может быть отсутствие прав на запись. Чаще всего ошибка возникает, если пользователь не имеет прав администратора. Попробуйте создать отдельную папку на «D» и сохраниться в нее. Если необходимы данные по владельцу папки, войдите в «Безопасность», а после жмите «Дополнительно».

Отключите временно антивирусное ПО

Если на ПК / ноутбуке установлен антивирус, он часто не дает сохранить Microsoft Excel и выдает сообщение об ошибки. Последняя может возникать из-за того, что некоторый антивирусный софт быстро сканирует документы, которые появляются на устройстве. Оно прерывает процесс, из-за чего и возникают ошибки. Чтобы убедиться в отсутствии конфликта, временно отключите антивирусное ПО. Если документ Microsoft Excel после этого был сохранен, значит, проблема в нем.

Отключите общий доступ

Трудности могут возникать из-за попытки одновременного сохранения Майкрософт Эксель двумя разными людьми. В таком случае нужно согласовать работу и получить единоличный доступ к исправлению.

Введите правильный путь

Если Microsoft Excel не удается сохранить файл, убедитесь в соответствии имени требованиям программы. Путь к сохраняемому / открываемому документу вместе с именем не должен быть больше 218 символов. В ином случае появляется сообщение об ошибке о недопустимости данных. Попробуйте изменить путь и имя.

Теперь вы знаете, почему Microsoft Excel документ не сохранен, в каких случаях появляются ошибки, и как их самостоятельно исправить. Для начала определитесь с проблемой, попробуйте ее устранить, а при необходимости используйте обходные пути.

В комментариях расскажите, какое решение вам подошло, и какие еще методы можно использовать, если Microsoft Excel не сохранен.

Отличного Вам дня!

Working on the spreadsheets in MS Excel can be really exciting. But at times, it turns into fear when Excel throws an error “Document not saved”. This happens when trying to save the spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. Fortunately, you can solve document not saved error in Excel by applying a few workarounds mentioned in this post.

So, let’s find them out…!

Why Is My Excel Document Not Saving?

Instead of directly fixing the Excel document not saved. the document may be open or an error may have been encountered when saving it is important to extract what actually causes it.

Here you can see the real interface of this error:

These are the major factors for generating this error message:

Network Issues: 

Another reason can be the weak or bad internet connection and due to this shared files over the network got damaged.

So when you start working on such a document it won’t allow you to do any modification nor you can save it.

Hardware Problems:

The situation may arise where the files kept on external devices like USB or hard drives somehow got damaged or corrupted.

So when you try to make changes on such files it’s obvious to encounter unable to save Excel file error.

Process Interrupted: 

The process of saving documents somehow got interrupted is the most obvious reason to generate Excel file save error. Usually, this happens when meanwhile the saving process you press the close icon or ESC button.

Permission Restrictions:

In some cases, the user is not allowed to make any changes to the particular excel file. So this can be also the reason because of why your Excel file is denying getting saved.

Now the big question that arises is how to deal with such situations. Don’t worry! We have some easy tips for you to tackle Excel saving errors or issues. Read on.

Solution 1- Save Your File Using Another Dummy File

The first solution that you need to try is saving the already existing Excel document by using another dummy file.

Doing this will at least help you to save your Excel document content and later on you can try to fix the error.

• Open your Excel file in which you are getting a document not saved error. Now press Ctrl + C button to copy the complete content of your Excel file.
• Now press the ctrl+N button from your keyboard this will open a new excel file page on your screen.
• On this new Excel document, you have to press the ctrl+v After this you will see all the content including the formula that you have copied from the problematic Excel file is now get copied in this new Excel file.
• After this tap to the File > Save As  Also assign the location where you want to save this file.

Solution 2- Remove The Interrupting Program /Process

As we have already discussed that accidental pressing of the ESC button or the presence of some interrupting process prevents the saving of Excel files.

So once more go to the save tab and try saving up your Excel file again without making press to any key.

Apart from this, you can end the ongoing interrupting process from the task manager.

• For this press Windows + R button and now in the opened run
• Enter text “taskmgr” in the box and press the enter.
• Now in the opened task manager window check for the potential program or services which are interrupting your saving task.
• Once you find it, just end the interrupting process and then try to save your Excel document again.

Solution 3- Resolve Network Connection Problem

Well, there are so many situations that arise where you need to save your Excel file over the network for easy sharing and remote working.

Microsoft says that if your network is not stable or facing a delay to make any changes then you will definitely face difficulty in saving your document.

If you are using your organizational network then try to send the remote document from some other peer’s PC.

If still you are getting the same document not saved. the document may be open because of a network connection problem, you need to contact the IT support team.

Also Read: Fix Excel Not Saving Formatting Changes Issue?

Solution 4- Check The Hardware Components

Another thing you need to check is whether the entire hardware component attachment in your PC is working correctly or not.

If you are trying to save an Excel file on an external hard/flash drive then ensure that a seamless and proper connection is done. Apart from this, physical damage to the external or system’s hard disk also results in the document not saved error in Excel.

Follow these tricks to Check Hard Disk Health in Windows 10

1: Windows CHKDSK Tool

Windows CHKDSK tool is a Windows built-in tool that scans your disk to fetch any type of bad sector and system errors.

Besides that, it helps in easy checking of the hard disk health by showing a complete list of errors.

It will scan and troubleshoot the problem if possible and inform you about any bigger issue if it’s present.

So use this inbuilt tool to make a check for the disk health and fix bad sector errors.

• Open the File Explorer and make a right-click over the system’s drive in which you want to make a check. Choose “Properties >>Tools” Hit the “Check” option.

• In most of the cases, users get the following message “You don’t need to scan this drive”.

It’s because the windows 10 PC automatically scans for disk health issues. If you want then you can still execute the manual scan.

2: WMIC

It is a command-line interface that does so many administrative tasks, like checking the hard disk health, etc.

WMIC works on a very enhanced feature i.e S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) to check the hard disk status. After complete checking, it will show message like “OK,” “Pred Fail,” etc.

Here are the steps to check hard disk status with WMIC.

• Hit the Win+ R key from your keyboard. This will open the run dialog box.
• Type cmd in it and hit OK.

• Now in the opened command prompt window enter the text “wmic” and hit enter.
• Once the WMI interface seems ready in the command prompt type the text “diskdrive get status”. After that press the enter button.

• Very soon you will receive the hard disk status.

Solution 5- Checking Permissions

If you have saved your excel file to such a location where no other users have permission to access it. At that time it was obvious to get the Excel Document not saved. The document may be open, or an error may have been encountered when saving.

Likewise, each folder is having its own permission which is by default given to the administrators.

Even some system folders are also restricted to administrators or users. So for that, you need to change the access permission.

• Hit the Windows + E button and then go to the folder location where you want to save your file.
• Make a right-click on that folder or drive location and then choose the Properties tab.
• Go to the “Security” tab after that hit the “Advanced” option which is present at the screen’s bottom. If here you won’t get any proper permission for the account then tap to the change.

• Here you can change the folder’s owner to your PC account.
• Hit the “Advanced” option when any new window pops out. On this, you have to hit the “Find Now” option.

• The list will appear on the screen bottom which contains all the user’s group detail present on the PC.
• Choose the account and hit the “OK” button.
• Select the option “Replace owner on sub containers and objects”. Doing this will modify the ownership of entire files/folders present within that particular folder. In this way, you can avoid repetition of the same task for any sub-directories present within it.
• As per your preference you can make a check across the option “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object”.
• Click the apply button and close the Properties.
• Once again open the Properties window and search for the security > Advanced.
• Now go to the permission window and tap the “Add” button present at the screen bottom.

• Tap to the “Select principle” option.
• Select all the permissions which you want to assign and hit the “OK” button.

• After that choose the “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” and hit the Apply.

After doing this you have got exclusive control over the directory in which you need to save your Excel file. Now once again try to save your Excel document and check whether the problem still persists.

Also Read: Fix Excel Encountered Errors During Save

Solution 6- Open Your Excel In Safe Mode to Document Not Saved Error in Excel

Try to launch the Excel application in Safe mode because in this mode plugins running in this application are complete take a cut off and the application starts with only a basic editor.

So if this Excel document not saving issue is originated due to bad plugins then running it in safe mode will resolve the issue.

1. Hit the Windows + R  This will open the Run dialogue box on which you have to type the following text:

excel /safe

1. Now Excel will get into safe mode. Try to save your Excel document data.

Solution 7- Update the MS Excel

Many users have reported that they received Microsoft Excel document not saved error because of using an outdated Excel. Hence, updating MS Excel to the latest version has fixed that issue for them.

So, here you have to do the same thing to get rid of it. To update the Excel, follow the below steps;

• Open the Microsoft Excel.
• After this, choose the Account from a left side pane.
• Next, you have to tap on the Update Options.
• Now, select the Update Now option from a context menu.

Finally, Microsoft will download the Office updates if any are available.

Solution 8- Repair MS Office

Even after following the above methods, if you are still facing the same error, consider repairing the Microsoft Office.

It might possible that you are facing this problem due to corruption in MS Office.

So, simply repair it by following the below steps:

• Go to Start & choose Settings (instead, you can use Win + I key).
• Then, choose the Apps from a left pane >> Apps & Features.

• Now, find & choose Microsoft Office then click on 3 dots menu.
• Click on Advanced options >> Online Repair.

• Finally, click on the Repair > Repair.

Now, MS Office will solve any sort of corruption found in a suit.

Solution 9- Best Software To Fix Excel Document Not Saved Error:

If you are unable to save your excel file and frequently get the Document not saved error. In that case, chances are quite high that your Excel document somehow got corrupted.

To resolve the Excel document corruption issue you are recommended to go with the professional’s recommended MS Excel Repair Tool. This is the best tool to fix any sort of issues, corruption, or errors in Excel workbooks.

With the help of this tool, you can easily restore all corrupt Excel files including the charts, worksheet properties cell comments, and other important data. This is a unique tool to repair multiple excel files in one repair cycle and recovers the entire data in a preferred location.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

Steps to Utilize MS Excel Repair Tool:

What Are The Different Types Of Excel Document Not Saved Error Occurs?

Following are some error messages which may encounter when Excel document denies to get saved:

Error 1# “Document Not Completely Saved or Document Not Saved”

Meanwhile working on an Excel file if you accidentally press the ESC button at the time of saving it then this will interrupt the process of making a temp file. Due to which Document Not Completely Saved or Document Not Saved as the error occurs.

Apart from this, Document Not Completely Saved error is also encountered when the software or hardware has stopped working properly.

Even if your system hasn’t generated the temporary file but your original file won’t get damaged if any issue occurs in the system.

Error 2# Document Not Saved / Any Previously Saved Copy Has Been Deleted

Your PC will start showing Document Not Saved / Any Previously Saved Copy Has Been Deleted in Excel when any ongoing process of temp file creation fails. This error mainly occurs at the time of temporary file renaming or removal of the original file.

Well in such a situation, you can use the temporary file but the original one gets deleted.

Error 3# “Cannot Access Read-Only Document <Your File Name>”

If someone tries to save the changes done in the read-only file then Excel will display the Cannot Access Read-Only Document <Your File Name> error.

This happens because you are not allowed to do any editing on the Excel file rather than you can only read it.

But if your file is not having any read-only tag but still you are getting the same Cannot Access Read-Only Document Excel error. In that case, the following reasons are highly responsible:

• When you are working on one excel file and simultaneously open another already existing file to do some changes on it. At that time saving any of these files starts displaying a read-only file error in Excel.
• Another reason is when you have saved your Excel file on the external drive such as a network drive and due to weak network saving process get interrupted. At that time Excel will show “Cannot access read-only document <Your File Name>” error.

Wrap Up:

Now you need not get fret with this Excel document may be open, or an error may have encountered when saving.

All the above-given tricks will definitely work to resolve this issue. If unfortunately, these tricks fail to work then you can rely on an expert’s recommended Excel repair tool.

Do share your opinion regarding this post and whether it helped you in removing the Microsoft Excel document not saved message on our social accounts Facebook and Twitter.

If Excel is telling you that “you do not have permission to save files to this location” and you lack administrator rights, then you’ll still be unable to save the Excel file to shared network drives. To do so, you will need to ask the author to grant you the necessary permissions or save the file to a location you have full access to.

To make sure the “Document Recovery” pane is available as soon as you launch Excel, check that AutoRecover Excel is working correctly. This will also help you avoid losing data if your system crashes or encounters similar unforeseen events.

Hady is Content Lead at Layer.

Hady has a passion for tech, marketing, and spreadsheets. Besides his Computer Science degree, he has vast experience in developing, launching, and scaling content marketing processes at SaaS startups.

Originally published Dec 16 2022, Updated Mar 22 2023

Several users of Microsoft Excel report that they are faced with the issue where they get an error message of ‘Document not Saved’. They also experience the issue where their document doesn’t get saved at all despite trying all the actions. Microsoft has officially acknowledged this issue on their official website.

Despite what Microsoft was stating, we found that there are several other reasons as to why this issue was occurring and what are the workarounds present. Make sure that you follow the solutions from the start and work your way down accordingly. Also, we are assuming that you have an activated copy of Microsoft Office and are also an administrator.

What causes the Error messages ‘Document not Saved’, ‘Document not completely saved’, and ‘Document not Saved. Any previous saved copy has been deleted’?

After analyzing all the user reports and combining our research, we came to the conclusion that there were several different reasons as to why this issue might occur. Some of the reasons as to why you might experience the error messages listed are but not limited to:

• Process interrupted: The saving process was interrupted by you either intentionally or unintentionally. This is usually done by pressing the ESC button or pressing the close icon present at the top-right side of the window.
• Network issues: If you are saving the Excel document over the internet, there might be cases where because of a bad connection, the file sharing is interrupted and because of this, you receive an error message. Checking the network works here.
• Hardware problems: There are also situations where you are saving the Excel file to external hardware such as a USB or hard drive. If that hardware is causing issues or the file is not getting through, you will experience the error message.
• Permission issues: We also found some cases where users were saving the Excel files to a system directory where there were no permissions. If there are no permissions, the user will not be able to save the file and the error message will surface.

Before we move on to the solutions, we will try to save the existing Excel file which is open on your computer using another dummy file. This will save the contents of the file just in case and then we will proceed to troubleshoot the error message. Make sure that you are logged in as an administrator.

1. Open a new Excel file. Now navigate back to the file which is causing the error and press Ctrl + C. This will copy the entire contents of the Excel file.

1. Now move back to the dummy excel file which we just created. Now click on the top-left cell and then press Ctrl + V. This will copy the entire contents including the formulas to the new file.

1. Once done, click on File > Save As and then select a local location which is present in your computer’s physical hard drive.

After saving the file, move on below to the troubleshooting methods:

Solution 1: Checking for Interruptions

There are also several cases where Excel is itself interrupted from saving the file to its required destination. This might occur in occasions where you accidentally press the Esc button or some other software/process prevents the saving from continuing.

Here, you should navigate back to the saving tab and then try saving again without pressing any other key. If this doesn’t work, press Windows + R, type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box and press Enter. The task manager should launch. Now check for any potential services which might disrupt the saving process. If you spot any, end the process and try saving again.

Solution 2: Checking Network Connection

There are numerous cases where you are saving the Excel file to a network location over a local network (for example, in organizations, employees sometimes save files remotely to another file location over the network). In these cases, the network should not have much delay and should have a stable property.

According to Microsoft, if your work network has disruptions every now and then and there is a high delay, there are chances that you will not be able to save the document. We also replicated the steps on our own systems and testing this statement positively.

If you are on an organizational network, try sending a remote file from other peer’s computer (considering he is already using the same network). If the same issue occurs, it means that there is some problem with the network connection properties and you should contact IT.

Solution 3: Checking Hardware Components

Another thing to check before we move on to the permissions is making sure that all your hardware is working properly. If you are saving the Excel file to an external flash/hard drive, then you should make sure that the connection is proper and seamless. Even if there is some physical damage to the external drive, you will receive this error message.

Hardware components also include your disk drive. If the disk head is not working properly, you will have issues accessing and writing files to your storage. Here you should check saving other files using software such as Microsoft Work and see if the issue occurs there as well. If it doesn’t, it means there is something wrong with the file location or with Excel itself. If the same issue occurs, you should dig deeper and make sure your hard drive is working as expected.

Note: You can also run a disk check to see for any errors.

Solution 4: Checking Permissions

If you are saving the Excel file to a location where your current user doesn’t have permissions, you will experience the error message as well. Each driver or folder has its own permissions which are usually granted to administrators (same with the ownership). However, some system folders might be restricted to one user or the main administrator (same goes for custom folders whose permissions have changed deliberately). In this solution, we will navigate to the directories and change the permissions.

Note: Make sure that you are logged in as a normal administrator. If you aren’t, make sure you log in with one as you will not be able to make changes in a normal account.

1. Press Windows + E and navigate to the directory where you are trying to save the file. Now, go one step back and open the directory where this folder is present.
2. Right-click on the folder and select Properties.
3. Navigate to the “Security” tab and click on “Advanced” present at the near bottom of the screen. As you can see there are no proper permissions for your account in this case.

1. Click on the “Change” button present in the preceding screen. It will be right in front of the owner value. Here we will change the owner of this folder to your computer account.

1. Click on “Advanced” and when the new window comes forth, click on “Find Now”. A list will be populated at the bottom of the screen consisting of all the user groups in your computer. Select your account and press “OK”. When you are back at the smaller window, press “OK” again.

1. Now check the line “Replace owner on sub containers and objects”. This will ensure that all the folders/files within the folder also change their ownership. This way you won’t have to proceed with all the process again and again for any sub-directories present. You can also check “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” according to your preference.

1. Now close the Properties window after clicking “Apply” and open it again afterward. Navigate to the security tab and click “Advanced”.
2. On the permissions window, click on “Add” present at the near bottom of the screen.

1. Click on “Select principle”. A similar window will pop up like it did in step 4. Repeat step 4 again when it does.
2. Now check all the permission (giving full control) and press “OK”.

1. Check the line “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” and press Apply.
2. Now, you have exclusive control of the directory in which want to save the Excel file. Try saving now and check if the issue still persists.

Solution 5: Launching Excel in Safe Mode

If all the above methods don’t work, we can try launching the Office Suite in Safe mode. When you launch the Office application is safe mode, it disables all the plugins which are running in the application and launching with only the basic editor. This might help troubleshoot problems where bad plugins are causing issues. Make sure that you are an administrator.

1. Press Windows + R to launch the Run dialogue and type the following

excel /safe

1. Now, press Enter. Excel will now be launched in save mode. Now try replicating the data into it and then try saving in safe mode. Troubleshooting whether the issue lies with some plugin or not.

Note: If you diagnose any plugin causing the issue, navigate to the plugin menu and disable it.

If the above method doesn’t work you can try starting your operating system in safe mode. This will help diagnose if any application is causing the problem. If the editor works normally there, then enable the applications one by one and identify. You can try the following article to boot your computer in Safe Mode:

How to: Start Windows 10 in Safe Mode

How to Enter Safe Mode in Window 7, Vista & XP

If you have been getting the “Excel Document not Saved” error on your computer, it might be related to a network drive or some other issue that prevents the program from accessing a certain location or file. In this article, we have listed the solutions/fixes and workarounds that you can use to fix it completely.

Before You Start:

• If you are saving the excel file on an external hard drive or USB, then make sure that they are properly connected to your PC and are readable. No loose connection is present and the data cable is properly attached to your PC and external hard disk.
• If you are accessing the excel file from a network then there is a high probability that you can face this error due to disruption in your internet connection. It can arise due to a fault in your router or there is an issue with your internet service provider’s server. Restart your router and wait for it to stabilize and if the issue still persists then contact your internet service provider’s helpline.
• If you have a couple of Excel files with a similar name, then it can create a conflict and hence generate this error so try renaming your current excel file.
• If you are accessing the excel file from a network then check if you have the required permissions to modify/update the Excel file and if you do not have the permission then contact the original file’s creator/owner.

Fixing the Excel document not saved error:

  Solution 1: Save File As A Different Excel File Type

1. Firstly, open the excel file in which you are facing the error, navigate to the “File” tab located at the top left corner of your screen, click on the “Save As” option from the left pane, and afterward select the “Browse” option.
   
2. A window will appear in front of you, choose a file location where do you want it to be saved, and then select a different file type from the save as type section’s drop-down menu, afterward click on the “Save” option.
   
3. Now navigate to that folder where you saved your excel file with a different file type, open it, and check if the error is still occurring.

 Solution 2: Move Your Workbook

1. Open the excel file, right-click on the name of the worksheet located at the bottom of the screen and select the option “Move or Copy”.
   
2. A window will appear in front of you, select the option “Move to End”, check the “Create a Copy” option and click “OK”.
   
3. Delete your old worksheet and then check if your excel file is saving properly.

 Solution 3: Save File In A Different Location

1. Open the excel file, navigate to the “File” tab, click on the “Save As” option from the left pane, and afterward select the “Browse” option.
   
2. A window will appear in front of you, choose a different file location instead of the current one, afterward click on the “Save” button.

 Solution 4: Disable Excel Add-Ins

Sometimes the Excel Add-ins get corrupted due to some bug that creates these sorts of errors so disabling these add-ins might resolve your issue. Follow the below-mentioned procedure to disable excel add-ins:

1. Open the excel file, navigate to the “File” tab, click on the “Options” from the left pane and afterward select the “Add-In” option.
   
2. Locate the “Manage” section present at the bottom of the window, select “Excel add-ins” from the drop-down menu list and click the “Go” button.
   
3. Add-Ins window will appear in front of you, uncheck all the add-ins showing on the list and afterward click on the “OK” button.
   

 Solution 5: Create a Duplicate File

1. Open the excel file in which you are facing the error, press the “Ctrl + A” keys simultaneously, and afterward press the “Ctrl + C” keys simultaneously too to copy the entire excel sheet.
2. Now head to the “File” tab, open a new excel workbook, and press the “Ctrl + V” keys to paste the entire data of the previous excel sheet.
3. Navigate to the “File” tab, click on the “Save As” option from the left pane and select the file location of your choice.
   

Solution 6: Save File As Macro-Enabled Workbook (.xlsm)

Some users ended up just saving the file as a “Macro-Enabled Workbook (.xlsm)” instead of just the normal Excel Workbook file type (.xlsx) that they had previously saved it under. They tried initially saving it as the old Excel Workbook file type (.xls) but got some compatibility/fidelity errors with pivot table features that were new to the (xlsx) version so be careful about going that route.

Solution 7: Save File At The Original Location

1. Create a new excel workbook, navigate to the “File” tab, click on the “Save As” option from the left pane, and afterward select the “Browse” option.
   
2. A window will appear in front of you, choose the same file location where the original corrupt excel file is saved, click on the “Save” button and check if the new excel file is saving normally as it should at the original location.

 Solution 8: Disable Background Processes

Sometimes the tasks running in the background can interfere with the active current running tasks and causes them to behave strangely. Restricting the activity of background running tasks can also fix this issue. To disable the background running tasks, follow the below-mentioned steps:

1. Press the “Alt + Ctrl + Del” keys simultaneously and click on the Task Manager.
   
2. Navigate to the “Processes” tab and a list of tasks currently running in the background will appear in front of you.
   
3. Now, right-click on the potential task that you think is interrupting the excel file saving process, select the option “End Task” and afterward try saving the excel file again.

Solution 9: Launch Excel In Safe Mode

Launching excel in safe mode might resolve your issue, as in safe mode, all plug-ins are disabled. Follow the instructions given below to successfully launch excel in Safe Mode:

1. Press the “Windows + R” keys simultaneously, a “Run” dialog box will appear, type the following command in the search box and then click “OK” button.

   excel /safe

   

2. Now excel will launch in Safe Mode afterward, try running the file and then saving it in safe mode.

Solution 10: Temporarily Disable Antivirus

Sometimes the antivirus software scans the newly created files on your computer, and this scan can disturb the excel file save process, resulting in this error. To temporary disable antivirus, follow the below-mentioned procedure:

1. Navigate to the “Show Hidden Icons” option on the right side of the taskbar, locate your antivirus, and right-click on it.
2. Select the option “Pause Protection” or “Disable Antivirus” (the option may vary depending upon your antivirus).
   
3. A warning prompt window will appear, click on the “OK” button.
4. Now the antivirus has been disabled, launch the Excel file and check if the issue is resolved.

 Solution 11: Check Hard Disk Status

Sometimes the data is not saved due to a malfunctioning hard disk drive and bad sectors within the hard disk. You can find out about the health status of your hard disk using the Windows built-in tool.

Method 1: Using Window Check Disk Utility

1. Open the “This PC” folder on your computer, right-click on the system drive in which the file is being saved, and click on the “Properties” option.
   
2. Navigate to the “Tools” tab and afterward click on the “Check” button. A popup message will appear in front of you, click on the “Scan Drive” option.
   
3. Now windows scan disk utility will check for any bad sectors on your hard drive and it’ll let you know if found any.
4. After running the scan, check to see if the Excel document not saved has been fixed.

Method 2: Using Command Prompt

1. Click on the windows start button, type “cmd” in the search box, and hit “Enter” button.
   
2. In the command prompt window, type the following command and press “Enter” button:

wmic

1. Now, type the following command and press “Enter”:

diskdrive get status

1. Now, the Windows Scan Disk program will scan your hard drive for any faulty sectors and notify you if any are identified.
2. Check to see if doing so fixes the Excel document not saved issue.

Solution 12: Edit Registry File

1. Click on the Start icon, type “Registry Editor” in the search box, then press the “Enter” button and select the “Yes” button on the permission dialog box when prompted.
   
2. Type the following address in the search box and press the “Enter” button:

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesCSC

1. Now, right-click in the registry editor window, select the option “Key” and type “Parameters” in the search box.
   
2. Now, right-click on the newly created parameters folder, select the “New” option, and click on the option “DWORD (32-bit)Value”.
   
3. Type “FormatDatabase” in the newly created file, press the “Enter” button, and afterward, right-click on this file and select the option “Modify”.
   
4. A new window will appear in front of you, type “1” in the Value data box and click “OK” button.
   
5. Close the registry editor window, restart your PC and check if the Excel document not saved issue is resolved.

 Solution 13: Modify Disk Permissions

1. Open the “This PC” folder on your computer, navigate to the folder where the excel file is being saved, right-click on the folder where the excel file is present and click on the “Properties” option.
2. Navigate to the “Security” tab, click on the ”Advanced” option located at the bottom of the window.
   
3. A new window will open in front of you, click on the “Change” option to change the owner of the folder.
   
4. Click on the “Advanced” option and afterward, select the option “Find Now”. Search results will appear at the bottom of the window, locate your account name, click the “OK” button and again click on “OK” in the next dialog box.
   
5. Now check both options i.e. “Replace owner on sub containers and objects” and “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” and afterward click on “Apply” and then on the “Ok” button to close the window.
   
6. Once again open the “Properties” option of that specific folder, navigate to the “Security” tab and then click on the “Advanced” option.
   
7. Click on the “Add” option located at the bottom of the window and afterward click on the option “Select a principal”.
   
8. A window will appear in front of you, click on the option “Advanced” and in the next window, click on the option “Find Now”, select your user account and click the “OK” button on both dialog boxes.
   
9. Now you’ll be able to select all the basic permissions from the list. Select all of them and click the “OK” button.
   
10. Finally, check the option “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object”, click on “Apply” and then on the “OK” button.
    
11. Now you’ll have full control over that folder and all the permission issues should be resolved by now.
12. Check to see if this fixes the Excel document not saved issue.

Workaround:

If you’re still unable to get around this issue then try modifying your file to be read-only, then whenever prompted to save you’ll have to save with a different file name and later overwrite the old file (and make the new one read-only once again). It’ll save you from having to export all of your modules.

If you still can’t figure out how to fix this issue, Contact Us for further troubleshooting.

Have you ever prepared an Excel file and clicked ‘Save’ just to discover Microsoft Excel File Error ‘The document cannot be saved’? Excel saving errors mainly occur when the procedure, that Microsoft Excel uses to save a file, malfunctions. For instance, if you are saving a file to your external drive, your connection experiences problems; or say, the USB you are locating your file at is removed from your system.

To put it in simple terms, when you’re working on a particular file in Microsoft Excel, the application temporarily saves it with a random name in the folder where your original file is placed. As soon as you’re done with working on the file and you click on the save option, your original file is removed and the temporary file created by Microsoft Excel gets the name of your original file. If any obstruction occurs in this process, Excel might not save your file appropriately or you would discover multiple files with the same name in the folder. Besides, you will get various errors and warnings when trying to access that file.

Here are some messages that you might receive when your file isn’t saved properly by Excel:

“Cannot access read-only document <Your File Name>”

When you try to save a file that is already open, this error is likely to occur. If you are trying to make changes to the file that is ‘read-only’, the screen will display the error ‘Cannot access read-only document <Your File Name>’. This is because the owner of the file has not given you permission to edit the document and you can only read it. If the file doesn’t bear the ‘read-only’ tag but this error keeps on appearing while you are trying to save the file in your folder, the following can be the reasons:

• When the user has been working for the first time on the Excel file and simultaneously opens another already existing file to make some changes, the read-only file error may get displayed when you try to save either of the files.
• When you are saving your Excel file to an external drive, for instance, a network drive and due to some reasons the Excel file saving process gets obstructed (like if your connection fails), the system will produce “Cannot access read-only document <Your File Name>” error.

“Disk is full”

Are you sure that the drive you are saving your file in has sufficient space to store it? Sometimes some technical issues can occur in your target disk where you are saving your file or the disk can accidentally get detached from the system. In such a case, the system will ask Excel to produce “Disk is full” error message. In addition to this, the same error is likely to be displayed if you are saving your file in the disk which doesn’t have sufficient space to store your file.

 “Document Not Completely Saved or Document Not Saved”

Often, when you are working on your Excel file and you accidentally press the ESC button while saving it, the process of making a temporary file gets interrupted. Moreover, the error “Document Not Completely Saved or Document Not Saved” tends to occur when your software or hardware isn’t functioning properly or some other media issue strikes. Even though the system might not create your temporary file, your original file remains undamaged if there is any problem in your system or your workstation is interrupted.

“Document not saved / any previously saved copy has been deleted”

Your system will display this message when the process of temporary file creation fails while you are renaming the temporary file or removing the original one. It might even occur for the same reasons described under “Document Not Completely Saved or Document Not Saved” section. In such cases, your temporary file can be used but your original file gets deleted.

Now the big question that arises is how to deal with such situations? Don’t worry! We have some easy tips for you to tackle Excel saving errors. Read on.

Tips to Fix “The document cannot be saved” issues

Let’s have a look at Microsoft excel document not saved how to solve this by some common solutions to fix the above-mentioned issues

1. Save the file with a different name: If you already have a file saved in your folder with the name similar to the one you are giving to your recent file, “cannot save file” issue can occur. To resolve this, go to File option, click on Save As, and rename your file. Check if the issue is settled. If the issue isn’t solved, proceed to the next fix.

1. Save your file to some other location: As mentioned above, Excel won’t save your file due to an insufficient amount of space in your disk, antivirus conflict with the excel file or if your file name exceeds the maximum character limit. In such cases, it is advisable to relocate your file to some other location.

1. Delete excel add-ins: Sometimes, corrupted Excel add-ins might cause errors when you try to save your file. Here’s how you can disable these add-ins on your system:
   • Open Microsoft Excel and click on the “File” menu.
   • On the left panel, click on “Options”.
   • In “Excel Options”, click on “Add-Ins”.
   • Under “Manage”, select “Excel Add-ins” and click on “Go”.
   • Disable the add-ins and see if the problem is resolved.

But what if you are still experiencing errors even after trying the above-mentioned solutions? Well, we have another sure-shot remedy for your problem.

What to do if common solutions don’t work?

If you’ve tried everything else and failed at getting rid of Excel saving errors, your Microsoft Excel application might be experiencing issues or the file in question might be corrupted. In such a case, using the services of a reliable Excel repair application is the best solution.

We recommend using Stellar Repair for Excel which is declared a tool with 100% integrity and precision for such needful situations where all other solutions fail. Equipped with technically advanced algorithms to repair Excel files, this software makes for the best choice to fix XLS and XLSX files. After performing repair on a corrupted Excel file, this software restores the file contents like tables, charts, chart-sheets, cell comments, images, formulas, sorts and filters to a new blank working Excel file which you can save easily.

If you’re tired of dealing with manual Excel repair solutions that just don’t work, try Stellar Repair for Excel.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft Excel usually associates with an array of issues that often frustrate users. However, when it comes to Excel saving errors, it becomes quite challenging to fix the issues and get your file stored in the folder you want. If you are tired of having “the document cannot be saved” error while trying to save your file in the excel folder, fret not! The above-listed tricks would definitely work out in helping you to get rid of such errors. And if these tricks fail too, you can always rely on Stellar Repair for Excel to save the day.

Are you getting an error message that says “Document not saved” when trying to save your Excel workbook? Several Microsoft Excel users have reported getting this error message on saving the workbook content. You might also get the “Document not completely saved” error message. As the message says, this error prevents you from saving the changes made to your workbook and you might end up losing all the updates made to the workbook.

There can be several reasons behind getting this error message. In any case, if you are facing the same issue, this guide is for you. Here, we are going to mention several fixes that will help you get rid of the error message at hand. But before that, let us find out the scenarios that are likely to trigger this error message.

What causes Document not saved error in Microsoft Excel?

Here are some of the potential causes of the Document not saved error in Microsoft Excel:

• It could be caused due to some interrupting program or process that is preventing Excel from saving your workbook. If the scenario is applicable, try terminating such processes to fix the error.
• If your user account doesn’t have sufficient folder permissions to save the workbook, you might experience this error message. Hence, you can try checking and granting folder permissions to fix the issue.
• You might experience the issue at hand if there is a network connection issue. This happens when saving the workbook to a network location.
• If there are some errors on the hard disk where you are trying to save your workbook, you might experience this error. So, check your disk drive health and fix the errors, if any.
• The error message might also be triggered due to a bad or problematic plugin. In that case, try running Excel in safe mode to fix the error.

Now that you know the scenarios that might cause the error message, let us check out the solutions.

Here are the fixes you can try to resolve the “Document not saved” error in Microsoft Excel:

1. Save the Excel workbook with a new filename.
2. Move the original workbook to a new workbook.
3. Terminate the interrupting program or process.
4. Check folder permissions.
5. Check Network Connection.
6. Check Hardware Components.
7. Start Excel in Safe Mode.

1] Save the Excel workbook with a new filename

The first thing you can try to fix this error is to save your Excel workbook with a new filename. This is a kind of workaround and it might fix the problem for you. Just go to the File menu and click on the Save as option. Then, enter a new filename and save the workbook. See if you are able to save the workbook now without the “Document not saved” error or not.

If not, you can also try saving the workbook at a different location and see if it works for you. Additionally, try saving the Excel workbook with a different extension.

In case the above workarounds don’t work for you, try the next potential fix to resolve the error.

Read: Fix VBA Run-time error Class not registered in Excel.

2] Move the original workbook to a new workbook

You can also try moving the content of the problematic workbook to a new fresh Excel workbook. Firstly, copy the content of your workbook using Ctrl+A and then the Ctrl+C hotkey. After that, just create a new workbook and paste the copied content into the new workbook. Now, save the new workbook and whether the error is fixed or not.

If you still get the same error, you can try the next potential solution to fix the error.

3] Terminate the interrupting program or process

In some instances, the error might be caused due to some program or process interrupting Excel while saving the file at a particular location. So, if some other program is preventing Excel from saving the workbook, you can try closing the interrupting programs. You can open Task Manager using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkey and analyze the running processes. And then, end the suspicious processes using the End Task button. After that, check if you are able to save your Excel workbook without the “Document not saved” error.

If you still receive the same error while saving your Excel workbook, try the next potential fix to resolve the error.

See: Fix Word, Excel, PowerPoint has run into an error.

4] Check folder permissions

You are likely to encounter this error message if your current user doesn’t have the required permissions at the location where you are trying to save your Excel file. Hence, check the permissions and if needed, change them.

To change the folder permissions, you need to log in with an administrator account. After that, you can follow the below steps:

1. Firstly, open File Explorer using Windows + E and open the directory where the target folder is present.
2. Now, right-click on the folder and then press the Properties option.
3. Next, move to the Security tab, click on the Advanced button, and tap on the Change button
4. After that, in the opened dialog window, press the Advanced button, click on the Find Now button, and from the search results, select your user account and press the OK button.
5. Now, again press the OK button and then enable the “Replace owner on sub containers and objects” checkbox.
6. Next, press the Apply button, and again in the Security tab, press the Advanced button.
7. Now, click on the Add button, press the Select a principal button, and repeat the step (4).
8. Then, enable all the folder permissions for the selected user account and tap the OK button.
9. Finally, enable the checkbox called “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” and click on the Apply button.

You can now try saving the Excel workbook and see if the error is now fixed or not. If the problem still persists, you can try the next potential fix to resolve it.

Read: Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action.

5] Check Network Connection

If you are trying to save your Excel file to a network drive over a local network, make sure the network is stable and doesn’t have any lag issues. Network disruptions might prevent you from saving your file successfully. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, contact your IT admin and ensure that there is no problem with network connection properties.

No issues with network connection properties and still getting the same error? Try the next potential solution to fix the error.

6] Check Hardware Components

In case you are trying to save your Excel workbook to an external flash or hard drive, make sure they are connected to your system properly. You might receive the error if there is some physical damage to your external drive.

Apart from external drives, the issue might also be with your disk drives. If there is corruption or some other issues associated with your disk drive, you will face problems while saving files to your storage. Hence, you can try running a disk check to scan and repair bad sectors and file system errors on your hard disks.

To check hard disk errors, you can use Windows built-in tool called CHKDSK Tool. Simply right-click on the drive where you are trying to save your Excel workbook and press the Properties button. Then, go to the Tools tab, click on the Check button, and follow the prompted instructions to scan and fix file system errors. You can also try running the WMIC tool. It basically scans the health of your hard disks.

See: Fix Compile error in hidden module in Excel or Word.

7] Start Excel in Safe Mode

If nothing worked for you, try launching Microsoft Excel in safe mode and see if the problem is fixed. Starting Excel in safe mode will basically disable all the plugins. So, if there is some bad plugin causing the error at hand, this should fix the error. Here is how to do that:

1. Firstly, press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Now, type the following command in the Open field:

   excel /safe

3. Next, press the Enter button to launch Excel in safe mode.
4. Finally, try saving the workbook and see if the error is fixed.

In case this fixes the error for you, there must be some bad plugins causing the error. You can analyze such plugins and disable or uninstall them.

That’s it!

How do I fix Document not saved error in Excel?

To fix the Document not saved error in Excel, you can try closing all the interrupting processes, changing your folder permissions, checking network connection, etc. Apart from that, you can also try scanning and repairing disk errors if that is what causing the error. Also, try launching Excel in safe mode. You can even try some workarounds like saving Excel workbook with a new filename.

Now read:

• Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error.
• Cannot print a file; It opens as ‘Save as’ instead on a Windows computer.