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How can you automatically create a backup copy of important Excel workbooks? Hi,
I'm Dawn Bjork, The Software Pro.
I'm also a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a Certified Excel Expert.
Accidental deletions or changes to a file can ruin your day,
especially if you don't have a backup of your original file. In this training,
we'll look at how to use Excel's AutoBackup feature to create a backup copy of a
workbook every time you save the file.
Here are the steps to set up an automatic backup for your key Excel workbooks.
With the file open, choose File > Save As
and then select More options.
This takes you to the Save As dialog box. From here,
we can change the file name, change the file location,
but our focus for the AutoBackup is to go to Tools,
just to the left of the Save option. From Tools,
choose General Options and here's the choice
Always create backup. By default, it's unchecked. Simply select that.
Choose OK, save the file,
confirm that you want to replace the file.
Now you would see this confirmation whether or not the AutoBackup was enabled.
Now every time you make a change in the original spreadsheet and save it,
the backup file will be updated to reflect your spreadsheet before that last
save. When the file is saved,
an Excel backup file will also be created with an XLK extension.
So this first time the file was saved, the files are exactly the same,
but if we make edits to the original file and save it again,
then in this case, I'll change this number,
let's say to 500 now when this is saved,
the most current version that is the XLSX file will show this change.
The backup is still the previous version. So basically,
the backup file is always one version behind the current version. And so,
if you made a bunch of changes,
saved your file and then you wanted to go back to that version that didn't have
this changes, you could simply open up the backup file.
Let's make one more change here and that will be to the color.
And so, now I'm saving the file. Now in this case,
I'll just simply use my keyboard shortcut CTRL+S. That's a quick,
easy way for us to save it without having to go to the dialog box.
You could also use the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar,
which will be above or below your Ribbon.
So let's make another change to this.
The AutoBackup updates the backup copy.
So it's up to date and one version behind the original and other users don't
even need to know it. That is, it just is something that happens automatically.
But let's see what we've actually created here.
So here I have both of those files.
The backup is identified by the extension and "Backup of",
and then the file name. If you're not seeing the file extension,
from the Windows Explorer choose View
and then select File name extensions.
And that makes it a little bit easier to have the distinction,
but because they are named differently,
that will also make it easy for you to do this. And then if you needed to,
you could actually open up this backup file which would reflect the changes
prior to the last time the file was saved. You may be prompted,
just know to expect this.
And we will open this file up and here we see the data change.
That is the most recent version was 2000 this one is 500.
Now keep in mind this process is not a substitute for a regular system backup,
whether it's by your IT services, your files are saved in OneDrive,
or you have another automated service.
And hopefully that will help you to feel a little bit more comfortable in making
changes and working actively with your Excel workbooks.
Now you've seen how to automatically create a backup copy of an Excel workbook
to help protect your work.
For more tips on being productive with Excel head to TheSoftwarePro.com/Excel.
If this training was helpful,
please like and comment on this video and subscribe to this channel.
This is Dawn Bjork, The Software Pro. Thanks for watching.