Many of us trust Microsoft Office’s AutoSave function. We hope it is saving our work every few minutes (if you don’t know how often, please check now or call us and we can check for you). As a Silicon Valley Microsoft Partner, Hybridge has seen many cases where this assumption has led to losing important information, specifically for two of our clients just this past month. This is because AutoSave has a dirty secret – you have to save the file at least once before it will start AutoSaving. That is right, if you first save the file “Newco Cap Table v01” you are all good, both AutoSave and our Cloud Backup (if you are a Hybridge Client) will protect you. However, if it is still “Book1” from when you created the spreadsheet, then you are still at risk.
You have to save the file at least once before it will start AutoSaving.
If you haven’t taken that first step to at least name and save the file, then you are not protected. There is almost nothing we can do to get your files back if your Office app or computer crashes, or something else happens to that file.
This is an opportunity for Microsoft to improve their product. It would be better if they did not let you create a document, presentation, or spreadsheet without forcing you to save it with a name first. This would enforce good document and data management skills and help avoid a lot of frustration on behalf of their users.
So please remember to save early and save often. You should even update the version numbers in the file name every hour or two or whenever you make a big improvement (i.e. keydoc v01.docx, keydoc v02.docx, etc.). This will allow you to refer back to previous versions.
If you don’t have strong and constant Cloud backup and security, please contact us via email at info at hybridge.com or phone, 888-353-1763.
