New Microsoft Word documents will be automatically saved to the cloud

Microsoft Word has decided to change the rules of the game — now documents will automatically “fly” to the cloud.

From now on, all new documents will be automatically saved to the cloud — to OneDrive or another storage service of your choice. Auto-save will no longer have to be turned on: it will work by default, says Raul Munoz, product manager for the Office Shared Services and Interfaces team at Microsoft. The truth is reminiscent of an update a year ago, when Windows 11 began Force OneDrive backup?

The feature is being tested in the Microsoft 365 preview program. According to the company, it should eliminate the risk of losing documents and make them available from any device — Android, iOS, or via a browser. But the question is, will there really be no risks? Recently OneDrive user lost 30 years of data and his requests were ignored.

New documents in Word will now be named with the date they were created, rather than the standard template with numbers at the end. Users will be able to change the default save location, as well as disable automatic file creation in the cloud if they prefer a local option.

How it works is shown in the screenshots below

Microsoft’s decision is quite expected: the company has been actively promoting OneDrive in recent years. Auto-saving by default and intrusive reminders in Windows are already pushing users to move to the cloud. Now the new rule makes local storage less convenient than using OneDrive. That’s why some users have criticized the innovation:

The company has recently managed to update Excel where pivot tables will now be automatically updated. А many updates have been announced for Windows 11 Explorer including quick access to user folders and the AI Actions menu. In addition to OneDrive, Microsoft is actively promoting Copilot, which can see your screen He’s already test in the browser.

Source: Microsoft