Windows: MS Word now automatically saves to the cloud

Word for Windows automatically saves newly drafted content to the cloud, where the AI also reads it. There is a remedy.

Microsoft is pushing Office files into the cloud. From now on, content created with Microsoft Word for Windows will automatically end up in the Microsoft cloud Onedrive. Users who do not want this must deactivate automatic saving (autosave). Alternatively, they can specify a different cloud as the automatic storage location in the settings. The settings also offer the very old-fashioned option of using your own computer or a network drive as the location for automatic saving.

If a user starts writing and then closes Word without an explicit save command, Word asks whether the content should remain saved in the cloud or be thrown away. The new default settings take effect immediately in Word for Windows from version 2509 (build 19221.20000). Microsoft plans to introduce the same default settings for Excel for Windows and PowerPoint for Windows later this year.

The co-pilot is already waiting

In the company blog, Microsoft's product manager Raul Munoz explains the benefits of automatic saving, namely that work done is less likely to be lost. This can otherwise happen if the program crashes, the entire Windows or if there is a power failure. Saving in the cloud is advantageous if the user wants to be able to read and edit the file themselves or third parties from other devices.

This also includes Microsoft's artificial intelligence Copilot and its agents. They also have direct access to the files automatically stored on Onedrive. Provided they have the appropriate license, users can then use the AI to evaluate or further edit the file.

Munoz does not provide any information about changes to the default settings for automatic saving in Word for MacOS in his blog post. Instead, he reveals two surprising bugs in Word for Windows: If the start screen display is disabled when Word is launched, the automatic saving of the first file of each session fails. And if a second instance of the program is called up during a running Word session, newly created files are also not saved automatically.

Found on https://www.heise.de/news/Windows-MS-Word-speichert-jetzt-automatisch-in-die-Cloud-10623681.html