Automatically Saving Versions

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated April 11, 2015)

As you pass a document file around to other people to work on, you may want Word to automatically save a version of your document every time it is closed. This is easy to do by following these steps:

  1. Choose Versions from the file menu. Word displays the Versions dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    2. Figure 1. The Versions dialog box.

  2. Make sure the Automatically Save a Version On Close check box is selected.
  3. Click on Close to dismiss the Versions dialog box.

Remember that Word saves a version every time the file is closed. Thus, if the document is worked on in a lot of small sessions, it is very easy for the document to get very large very fast. To overcome this problem, make sure you review the versions periodically and delete those you no longer need. (Deleting a version is covered in a different tip.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1852) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Quickly Displaying the Font Dialog Box

Want to quickly format some text in your document? Select, right-click, and make a selection, and you can get to the ...

Discover More

Excel 2007 Filters and Filtering (Table of Contents)

Excel provides two ways to filter your data so that only what you want to see is displayed. Discover how filtering works ...

Discover More

Preventing Overlapping Tables

You can spend considerable time getting the tables in your document to look just right. What happens, though, when you ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Equation Editor Font Color

If you want to change the color used by the Equation Editor, you may be out of luck. In fact, the best solution may be to ...

Discover More

Changing the Office Assistant

How to change the Office Assistant character in Word.

Discover More

Changing an AutoShape

Got an AutoShape you previously added to a document, buy you now want to change to a different shape? You can change ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 1 + 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.