Autosave is great - except when you open somebody else's workbook!

[Tripp Knightly]

Here's the problem I have w/ autosave - suppose I open somebody else's
workbook on the LAN and maybe start changing some things. If I have
autosave turned on (especially w/ prompting disabled), it'll save
those changes before I remember to turn off autosave. If I enable
prompting, then it gets annoying w/ those workbooks of MINE that I
need to save regularly as I work on them.

I wish there was a way to be prompted ONCE every time I open any
workbook whether I want Autosave to run for that workbook. And this
would mean I could have Autosave running for some open files and not
for others.

Any ideas about workarounds?

 

[AlfD]

Hi!

Personally, I would outlaw autosave.

I feel happier with Autosafe from J K Pieterse (try a Google search)
It is non-destructive.

Al

 

[Earl Kiosterud]

Tripp,

Autosave not good. Cause much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Start wars.
Bad.

You might consider a timed macro, using Application.Ontime to issue a
message a few minutes after opening asking the user to do the save. Then if
he doesn't, tooooo baaaaad. It could fire only once. Macros would have to
be enabled.

 

[Tripp Knightly]

Hi!

Personally, I would outlaw autosave.

I feel happier with Autosafe from J K Pieterse (try a Google search).
It is non-destructive.

Alf

Thx...

Autosafe is a good option - gives you the protection you need w/
damaging your or others' work. 1 con is it creates new copies so if
you're working w/ very large spreadsheets it might use resources and
take more time?

But alas in my case as a corporate user a) I'm not allowed to install
it b) the license for Autosafe is for individual non-business use
anyway.

But again, as I've since discovered, it is a good option for those not
constrained as I am.

 

[Tripp Knightly]

Interesting...

And I presume that after saying yes the macro would auto-save (sic)
every n minutes? And this macro would / could exist only in sheets
*I* create, perhaps by default if I introduce into my spreadsheet
template?

 

[Earl Kiosterud]

Tripp,

The macro could exist in the workbook to be saved. Or a different macro
could be in your personal.xls (which is in your copy of Excel) and schedule
the backup of any open workbooks. The simplest such macro could pop up a
reminder every few minutes to save your work. The following would work in
either an individual workbook, or in Personal.xls:

You'd put this in module ThisWorkbook:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Application.OnTime Now + TimeValue("00:05:00"), "SaveReminder"
End Sub

And this in a regular module:

Sub SaveReminder()
MsgBox "Save your files"
Application.OnTime Now + TimeValue("00:05:00"), "SaveReminder"
End Sub

It times out in 5 minutes.

I think that a good save habit is better than such tools (like Autosave,
which can have results from inconvenient to disastrous), and urge you to
foster one with the folks in your organization. Autosave is a marketing
tool, not a true productivity tool.