Automatically Saving Versions

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 24, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

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

Figure 1. The Versions dialog box.

Make sure the Automatically Save a Version On Close check box is selected.
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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Splitting Cells by Case

Excel provides several different ways that you can split apart the contents of a cell. One way it doesn't provide is to ...

Discover More

Moving Section Breaks

Section breaks are used to divide a document into two or more sections that can be independently formatted. If you want ...

Discover More

Finding Where the Current Document is Saved

It is possible to have multiple documents on your system, each with the same filename. If you work on those documents at ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Can't Place Merge Field in Header Of a Catalog Merge Document

Word can perform several different types of mail merge operations, and the type you choose can affect how you are able to ...

Discover More

Versions Not Saving Correctly

If you use Word's versioning tool, you may notice that you sometimes get errors with the versions in your documents. This ...

Discover More

Inconsistent Adding of Words to a Custom Dictionary

Custom dictionaries are a great way to adapt the spelling and grammar checkers to your needs. If you find that Word isn't ...

Discover More

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

View most recent newsletter.

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}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) 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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 5 + 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.