11 Ways To Fix Excel Encountered Errors During Save

Summary:

In this post i will discuss about some very frequently encountered Excel won’t save errors which generally occurs while trying to save xls/xlsx file or worksheet.

Let’s know, what are the different types of Excel encountered errors during save mostly rendered by users? And most important of all how to fix Excel file saving errors?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program used world widely. This is a popular program and is available on many operating systems such as Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

Well, its popularity clearly shows how useful this is. And this powerful tool provides graphics, calculations, pivot tables, and many others for performing various tasks easily.

But as it is said the Grass Is Not Always Greener on the Other Side, just like this, despite its popularity and uses of Excel is also not free from issues.

There are many types of errors faced by Excel users from time to time.

So, today here in this article I am going to describe some very frequently conquered Excel errors that occur while saving Excel workbooks.

Let’s proceed to our first important topic what kind of Excel save failed errors are mostly encountered in Excel applications.

Blog Highlights:

2# Why Won’t My Excel File Save?

3# What Kind Of Error Arise When You Save Excel File?

4# How To Fix Errors That Occur While Saving Excel Workbook?

Why Won’t My Excel File Save?

Before getting details on how to fix Excel encountered errors during save it’s important to know why won’t my Excel file save.

After all, you all must be questioning why I am unable to save this particular Excel file. So read out the reasons that are highly responsible for this:

The location, where you wish to save the Excel file, is not having enough disk space.
The excel file which you are trying to save is the shared one.
Third-party application or Anti-virus software is interrupting meanwhile the saving process.
You have exceeded the limit of 218 characters at the time of assigning a name to your file.
Your Excel file is somehow got corrupted.

What Kind Of Error Arise When You Save Excel File?

Here are some most populated Excel encountered errors during save listed down, just check them out.

1: Cannot access read-only document filename

2: Disk is full

3: Document not saved or Document not completely saved

4: Document not saved. Any previously saved copy has been deleted

5: Filename.xls is locked for editing

Please Note: The given methods might not save the entire latest changes, formatting, and feature sets of the workbook specific to the Excel version that you are using. The given methods are proposed to obtain a usable, saved version of the file. And this requires you to save files to your hard disk by utilizing a unique filename.

Error 1: Cannot access read-only document filename

Well, this is a common Excel file saving error encountered by the users. The error message “Cannot access read-only document filename” appears when the drive you are saving is a network drive and you are not having sufficient privileges to save to that drive.

Resolution: To resolve the error message: Cannot access read-only document filename follow some of the possible workarounds:

Very firstly as this error is related to the network drive saving issue, so to fix it the network connection must be checked in the case file is attempted to be saved on a network drive.
You should know privileges, or consult administrator for obtaining enough privileges to get rid of prevailing situation that might corrupt the Excel file also.

Now try to save the file to your local hard disk drive or to a floppy disk drive.

Try the given solution to resolve errors when you try to save Excel files.

ALSO READ: Fix Excel Error File Name XLS Cannot Be Accessed

Error 2: Disk is full

The Disk is full error message is faced by the user when the drive in which you are saving Excel file does not have enough free space.

Resolution: To fix the error, copy the file to the hard drive or another disk that is having enough free space.

You can also save the file to the floppy disk drive in this way you can fix the error when you try to save Excel files.

Error 3: Document not saved or Document not completely saved

The error message occurs when the process was interrupted during the creation of a temporary file as ESC key is pressed. And as a result, there was some hardware or software failure or any other media problem.

However, the original file is still intact till the PC or workstation failed the version of the file containing your current changes is still open in the memory.

Resolution: To fix the Document not Saved error, save the file to an alternate drive, but if in case your system or workstation fails, make use of the original file.

Please Note: The last changes you made were might be lost.

Or else try this:

Select your entire worksheets (Click the first sheet + SHIFT + Click the last sheet)
Now, right-click on one of the sheets and select Move or Copy
Click “Create a copy” and then click the drop-down box and select (new book)
Click “OK”
Now you are able to save your new workbook (and discard the old one)

Error 4: Document not saved. Any previously saved copy has been deleted

This is another error commonly encountered by users while saving Excel files. This Excel file saving error appears when the process was interrupted while deleting the original or renaming the temporary file.

Well, the problem is commonly the same as ‘Document not saved,’ or ‘Document not completely saved'” error. However, in this case, the original file was gone (as the temporary file might be readable).

And if the computer or workstation fails, make use of the temporary file…

But if the interruption was caused due to something else, then the file containing current changes is still open in memory.

Resolution: In this case, simply save the file to an alternate drive, doing this save the file and as well fix the error.

Error 5: Filename.xls is locked for editing

Here is the complete statement of the error message which you get:

Filename.xls is locked for editing by ‘user name’. Click ‘Notify’ to open a read-only copy of the document and receive notification when the document is no longer in use.

The error is also related to the process that Excel uses for saving the file that stops working or is interrupted.

If you are saving the file to an external drive like a network drive, the connection has been dropped. Or if you are saving a file to a removable disk, like a floppy disk or the removed disk.

Resolution: To fix Excel file is locked for editing by another user error save the workbook to a different disk drive. You should restore the connection or fix the problem with the original target drive before saving the file to that drive again.

How To Fix Excel Encountered Errors During Save?

Though there are various types of Excel won’t save changes errors pop up while trying to save an Excel file but luckily there are solutions for all the known errors.

Follow the complete solution to fix Excel save failed errors whether they occurred in any situation.

1: Save The Workbook By Using A New File Name
2: Move The Original Worksheets To A New Workbook
3: Save The File As A Different Excel File Type
4: Save The File In HTML Format
5: Restricted Permissions
6: Network Connection Lost
7: Antivirus Software Conflict
8: File name Length
9: Third-party add-in
10: Insufficient Drive Space

Solution 1: Save The Workbook By Using A New File Name

Solution: In this case for saving the Excel workbook, try

Click Save As, on the File menu.

From the Browse option choose the location where you want to save your new Excel file. Then use a unique file name to save the workbook.

Solution 2: Move The Original Worksheets To A New Workbook

Solution: This is another random error appears while saving Excel workbook, and to save it try

Press shift + F11 to add a filler worksheet to your workbook
Please Note: This sheet is needed because there should be at least one remaining sheet in a workbook after moving the entire related data sheets.

Now, group entire worksheets (accept the filler) and to do so, click the first sheet and hold the Shift key, after that click the last sheet.
Next, right-click the grouped sheets > and click Move or copy.

And in the To Book list > click (New Book) > click OK.

Doing these steps will move the active (grouped) worksheets to a new workbook. And if your workbook contains VBA macros, then copy the modules from old workbook to the new workbook.

Solution 3: Save The File As A Different Excel File Type

Solution: Now in this scenario, try this

Click Save As, on the File Menu
Then in the Save as Type list, select a different file format.

For example: If using Microsoft Excel 2007 or other versions, then save the file as .xlsx or .xlsm instead of as .xls.

Solution 4: Save The File In HTML Format

Solution: In this case, try the given ways to save it.

First, on File menu > click Save As.
Then in the Save as type list > click Web Page.
And lastly, click Save.

Well, these are some most commonly encountered errors that occur while saving Excel file.

After getting knowledge on how to save Excel file safely on your PC, now follow the troubleshooting steps to fix Excel save failed errors.

Solution 5: Restricted Permissions

You might be getting the error if you are having the restricted permissions to the folder on which you are saving the Excel file. So, when you save an Excel file you must have the following given permissions:

Read permission
Write permission
Modify permission
Delete permission

Please Note: If you do not have these permissions, then the Excel saving process cannot be completed.

Solution 6: Network Connection Lost

If you are using an Excel workbook and suddenly connection of the drives is lost in which your Excel file exists, then you might receive an error message while saving Excel workbook.

This happens because some parts of the workbook might not be downloaded to the local computer when you open the file from a network location.

Well, the Pivot Table Caches, the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and the ActiveX objects are not downloaded to the local computer till they are accessed in the local Excel session.

So, if in case the network connectivity is lost, then Excel cannot access the file parts that were not downloaded to the local computer and as a result cannot save the Excel file.

Well to fix this follow the solution given in this article: FIX Excel Saving File at Network Location Fails Error

Solution 7: Antivirus Software Conflict

Well, due to the installed or running antivirus software, you might receive can’t save Excel file error message when you try to save an existing workbook.

In this case, you may receive an error message, as some antivirus programs quickly scan new files that appear on a computer. And this scan can sometimes interrupt the Excel save process and this might stop Excel from saving the file correctly.

So, try to disable the antivirus and try saving the file again.

Solution 8: File name Length

If you try to save or open an Excel file and the path of that file (including the file name) is more than 218 characters, then you might receive the error message:

Filename is not valid

To fix this read the article and fix it:

Helpful Article: How To Resolve ‘Excel Cannot Open The File ‘(Filename)’.Xlsx’ Error

Solution 9: Third-party add-in

If the Excel is not saved when you try running Excel in Windows safe mode, then this issue might be caused by the third-party add-in or by the file that is one of the Excel startup locations. These files are by default loaded when you start the Excel file.

So, check it and remove the possibility that a third-party Excel add-in or file is causing an Excel to save issue, start the Excel file in safe mode and follow the steps:

First Exit Excel.
Then, click Start, > point to Programs.
When you start Excel press Ctrl > and hold it till you get the message given below:

Excel has detected that you are holding down the Ctrl key. Do you want to start Excel in safe mode?

After that click Yes.
And try saving a new Excel file > and again re-save the same Excel file.

If the file saves correctly, then a custom add-in or a file located in an Excel startup location might be the cause.

Locate and remove the add-in or the file to remove the problem, after determining the add-in or the file that is causing the problem, so contact the vendor who designed it. the vendor might have additional information about the issue and an update that won’t cause the issue to occur.

Solution 10: Insufficient Drive Space

When you try to save the file to a floppy disk drive, or a local hard disk, or a network drive and this causes the issues, then you need to make sure that the media must have sufficient free space to let the file save.

And this case you get the error message

Disk is Full.

Helpful article: You receive the “Disk is Full” error message when you save a workbook in Excel

After acquiring knowledge of the manual solutions to fix errors when saving Excel workbook. It’s time to move on to our next section i.e Recommended solution to fix can’t save Excel file errors.

Final Verdict:

So, these are some Excel file won’t save errors that commonly originates at the time of saving up your work in Excel.

Well, I had tried my best to cover the entire information about Excel encountered errors during save.

So, just go through it and follow the given troubleshooting steps to fix Excel won’t save errors.

I love to get responses from my reader’s side so if you have any additional questions concerning the ones presented in this blog. Or you have knowledge of any extra solutions that I missed out then share it with us in the comments section below.

Besides that, you can also visit our Repair MS Excel, Facebook, or Twitter social accounts.

That’s it!!!!

Priyanka Sahu

Priyanka is a content marketing expert. She writes tech blogs and has expertise in MS Office, Excel, and other tech subjects. Her distinctive art of presenting tech information in the easy-to-understand language is very impressive. When not writing, she loves unplanned travels.