Alamo Colleges District

Enabling AutoSave in Desktop Applications

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OneDrive logo

As an Alamo Colleges student, faculty, or staff member you automatically gain access to all Microsoft 365 applications, including OneDrive, which allows you to save all your important files to a free storage cloud. OneDrive also enables you to share files with colleagues and or co-workers effortlessly.

Once you've logged into Microsoft and downloaded your desktop applications, you can enable AutoSave to ensure that your progress is saved while you are working. So, if you accidentally close out of a tab, forget to hit the save button, or even if your computer freezes up on you, your work will be automatically saved in the OneDrive cloud.

Having trouble downloading desktop applications? You can use the Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel web applications.

In this guide we will walk you through enabling AutoSave on desktop applications in Windows and Mac operating systems.

Important notes about AutoSave

  • You must enable AutoSave for every file that you work on.
  • You must enable AutoSave in every desktop app.
  • When you open a new desktop application such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc., or when you open a new file, ensure AutoSave is on so you do not lose your work in progress.
  • OneDrive gives you 1TB of cloud storage.
Windows

You can search for your Windows Office 365 applications in the task bar.

Search the desired application and select Open.  

open word in windows desktop

In the top left corner of the screen, you will notice that AutoSave is turned off.

Simply toggle the switch On to enable AutoSave.

autosave is automatically turned off in windows desktop

A message will appear asking if you would like to save it to the Alamo drive, or if you would like to sign into a different account.

Select OneDrive - alamo.edu.

toggle the switch on to enable autosave and select onedrive account

Name your document to save.

Press OK.

name your file

Now AutoSave is on.

autosave is now turned on

Success! You have officially enabled AutoSave. Now the file that you are currently working on will automatically save to the cloud.

Mac

You can locate your desktop applications by launching Finder.

launch finder application

Select Applications > desired Microsoft Application (For example: Word).

go to applications and microsoft word to launch mac desktop app

In the top left corner of the screen, you will notice that AutoSave is turned off. Simply toggle the switch On to enable AutoSave.

autosave is turned off automatically

A message will appear asking you to name the file and select the drive account.

Name your file.

Select OneDrive - alamo.edu

Press Upload.

name and save your file to onedrive account

Once your file uploads, AutoSave will be turned on.

switch the toggle on to enable autosave on mac desktop

Success! You have officially enabled AutoSave. Now the file that you are currently working on will automatically save to the cloud.

Additional Resources

Like this guide? Leave us a thumbs up. If you have additional questions, feel free to comment or contact the IT help desk.

For more information about Microsoft OneDrive, visit the Microsoft support & learning center.

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