Excel will not save my files to my computer

What you’re describing usually happens when Excel is saving the file somewhere other than where you expect, or when it’s saving to a temporary location instead of your actual drive. That’s why you can open the file inside Excel but don’t see it in your folders.

Here are the most common causes. Sometimes Excel defaults to saving in OneDrive rather than your local Documents folder, so the file is stored in the cloud. If you open Excel and go to File → Save As, check whether the location says OneDrive. If it does, you can choose “This PC” or “Browse” to pick a folder on your computer. Another possibility is that the file is only sitting in memory as an “unsaved” workbook. In that case, you’ll see it in Excel’s recent list, but until you actually save it with a name and location, it won’t appear in your folders.

To fix this, open the workbook in Excel, go to File → Save As, and deliberately choose a folder on your computer, like Documents or Desktop. Give the file a name and confirm the type is “Excel Workbook (*.xlsx).” After that, you should see it in the folder you picked.

If you’ve already done that and still don’t see the file, it may be saving to a hidden or default path. In that case, check File → Options → Save, and look at the “Default local file location.” That will tell you where Excel is putting files by default. Navigate to that folder in File Explorer and you should find your saved work.

Hi @Jeff Cordts,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I can understand how inconvenient it can be when you can see your Excel workbook inside the app, yet it doesn’t appear in your computer’s folders. This usually happens for a few different reasons. For example, the file might be:

• Saved to OneDrive or SharePoint because AutoSave is on, rather than to your local drive.
• Still not actually saved to disk, Excel may be holding it in memory until you choose a location.
• Blocked by Windows security features (like Controlled Folder Access), which can prevent Excel from writing to certain folders such as Documents or Desktop.

To help you get this sorted, here are a few steps that normally resolve the issue:

1/ First, confirm where Excel is saving the file:

To begin, click the file name at the top of the Excel window. This will show you the current save location. If the file is stored in the cloud (paths starting with https://), then that explains why it doesn’t appear in File Explorer. In that case, choose Save a Copy and pick a folder on your local computer, such as Documents or Desktop.

Reference: What is AutoSave?

2/ Next, save the file locally and make that your default:

• Then, press F12 (or choose Save As) and manually browse to a folder on your C: drive such as C:\Users<your name>\Documents. Save it as an Excel Workbook (.xlsx).
• After that, you can set this as your default so Excel always saves locally going forward:
  1. File > Options > Save
  2. Turn on “Save to Computer by default”
  3. Choose your preferred default local file location

Reference: Customize the save experience in Office

3/ Understand how AutoSave affects where files appear:

• Furthermore, AutoSave only works automatically when a file lives in OneDrive or SharePoint. That’s why you might see it in Excel but not in a local folder, it’s being updated directly in the cloud every few seconds.
• If you want to work locally instead, simply choose Save a Copy to your computer and turn AutoSave off for that file. Conversely, if you prefer staying in the cloud, you can always check Version history from the title bar.

4/ Finally, check Windows security if saving still fails:

If, after saving locally, the file still doesn’t show up, Windows may be blocking Excel from writing to certain folders.

You can fix this by going to:

• Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage ransomware protection > Controlled folder access
  
• If Controlled Folder Access is turned on, select “Allow an app through Controlled folder access” and add Excel so it’s permitted to save files in protected folders (like Documents or Desktop).

Reference: Enable controlled folder access

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.   

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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