06/23/2023
BITBOY ALERT:
MICROSOFT WORD AUTOSAVE & AUTORECOVER DOESN'T WORK LIKE IT USED TO AND HOW YOU THINK IT DOES!
It used to be that AutoSave would save an already named and saved document at timed intervals you set (default was 10 minutes), and AutoRecover was only for unnamed (i.e. "Document1") documents, and it would pop up if Word closed unexpectedly and offer to restore unsaved work (if it worked, which it didn't always).
IT IS DIFFERENT NOW!
If and *ONLY IF* the document is named and saved in a OneDrive-synced folder, Word (and Excel & PowerPoint) will autosave work automatically, and give you the ability to revert to older versions. OneDrive can sync your Documents and Desktop folders automatically but that is NOT THE DEFAULT.
Word and the other Office Apps default to saving to OneDrive locations if you are logged in to a Microsoft account with OneDrive, but again that is not the default, and OneDrive locations are not visible in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder unless you use the OneDrive software client, too. It's confusing, so most people ignore it and save locally anyway, and then the documents DON'T AUTOSAVE.
If the document is saved to any folder that is not synced to OneDrive, THERE IS NO AUTOSAVE. You must save your document regularly to save progress! This also includes folders synced to iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive - files saved in these folders also HAVE NO AUTOSAVE. You must save your document regularly! Also there is no versioning (some exceptions with GDrive and Dropbox)! If you want to revert to an older version, there's no way to do that unless you have your own backups to a cloud provider like BackBlaze or local backup like Time Machine or you do your own versioning (saving things like "Document v3-FINAL FINAL REALLY"). There is still AutoRecover for unsaved work, but it is NOT RELIABLE and it really only comes into play if Word closes unexpectedly due to a reboot or crash. If you close Word without manually saving your work, you will lose that work!
I KNOW THIS IS INSANELY COMPLICATED AND WEIRD. COMPUTERS SUCK. THE ONLY ANSWER IS TO AUTOMATE GOOD BACKUPS AND MAKE SURE THEY WORK.
/BITBOY ALERT
