Software & Apps MS Office Use Excel Shortcut Keys to Quickly Save Your Work Save early, save often! by Ted French Writer Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs. our editorial process Ted French Updated on December 02, 2020 The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts Introduction Windows Timesavers The Best Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Better Productivity How to Use the Shortcut Alt + Underline Shortcut to Create New Folders Essential Shortcuts for iTunes Mac, iOS & iPad Quick Tricks The Best Mac Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App iPad Keyboard Tips and Smart Keyboard Shortcuts Android & iPhone Shortcuts The Best Android Shortcuts You Should Be Using Create and Use iPhone X Shortcuts Email Shortcuts The 30 Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts for 2020 How to Use Yahoo Mail Keyboard Shortcuts The Complete Apple Mail Shortcut List Shortcuts in iOS Mail Delete Shortcut Keys for Popular Email Programs How to Use Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts Create Text Snippets With Shortcuts in Mac OS X Mail Online & Browser Shortcuts Top 36 Shortcuts for Edge and IE 11 Keyboard Shortcuts: Google Chrome for Windows Create Web Page Shortcuts in Chrome for Windows Control Safari Windows With Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts for Safari Toolbars Shortcuts for Safari on OS X & Sierra Excel Shortcuts The 23 Best Excel Shortcuts Shortcut Excel's Fill Down Command Shortcut the Current Date/Time Formatting Numbers Adding Worksheets Shortcut to Saving Your Work Creating a Chart MAX Function Shortcut More Office Shortcuts Top 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts Add Shortcut Keys to AutoText Entries Uppercase Shortcut Key How to Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Shortcut to Speed Up PowerPoint Presentations Other Useful Shortcuts The Best Google Docs Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Changing Linux Mint Cinnamon Shortcuts Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Maya Keyboard Shortcuts Create or Reassign Keyboard Shortcuts in MS Office Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop CC Time-Saving Fill Tool Shortcuts in Photoshop The 5 Most Useful GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts How to Use the GIMP Keyboard Shortcut Editor Shortcuts to Type a Tilde Mark Tweet Share Email You've put a lot of work into your Excel spreadsheet, don't let it slip away because you forgot to save it. Use these tips to keep your work safe and saved for the next time you need that important file. When you want to share your work, save the workbook in PDF format. Instructions in this article apply to Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010; Excel for Microsoft 365, and Excel for Mac. Use Excel Save Shortcut Keys There are three ways to save a file in Excel: Select File > Save As. In Excel 2019, select File > Save a Copy.Select Save on the Quick Access Toolbar.Use the Ctrl+S shortcut key. If you work on a Mac, use the Command key instead of the Control key. Jurgita Vaicikeviciene / EyeEm / Getty Images If the file has been saved before, the pointer changes to an hourglass icon while the save takes place. If the workbook is being saved for the first time, the Save As dialog box opens. First Time Save When a file is saved for the first time, two pieces of information must be specified in the Save As dialog box. Enter a name for the file and choose the location where it will be saved. File names can contain up to 255 characters including spaces. Save Frequently Using Ctrl+S is an easy way to save data. Use this shortcut frequently, at least every five minutes, to avoid losing data. Pin Save Locations If you open certain files or folders frequently in Excel, pin them to your list of recently opened files. This keeps the location readily accessible at the top of the Recent list. There is no limit to the number of locations that can be pinned. To pin a save location: To pin a folder, select File > Save As. Select Recent and, on the right side of the window, hover over the workbook or folder you want to pin. A small horizontal image of a push pin appears for that location. Select the pin for that location. The folder is moved to the Pinned list and the horizontal push pin changes to a vertical push pin. To unpin a location, select the vertical push pin to change it back to a horizontal pin and remove it from the Pinned list. Save Excel Worksheets as PDF Files When you want a copy of a worksheet or an entire workbook that nobody can edit and everyone can view, convert or save your Excel files in PDF format. A PDF file (Portable Document Format) allows others to view documents without needing the original program, such as Excel, installed on their computer. Instead, users open the file with a free PDF reader program such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Saving the Active Worksheet in PDF Format When saving a file in PDF format, by default only the current, or active worksheet (the worksheet on screen), is saved. To save an Excel worksheet in PDF format: Select File. Select Save As to open the Save As window. Choose the location where you want to save the file. Enter a name for the file. Select the Save as type down arrow. Scroll through the list to find and select PDF (*.pdf). Select Save to save the file in PDF format and close the window. Save an Entire Workbook in PDF Format The default Save As option only saves the current worksheet in PDF format. Follow these steps to save your entire workbook as a PDF file: Select File > Save As. Select Browse to open the Save As dialog box. Select Save as type to open a drop-down list and choose PDF. The Options button appears in the Save As dialog box. Select Options to open the Options dialog box. Select Entire Workbook in the Publish what section. Select OK to return to the Save As dialog box. Select Save to save the workbook in PDF format and close the dialog box. AutoSave to OneDrive If you use Microsoft 365, Excel automatically saves your work when you choose to save files to your OneDrive cloud storage account. When your files are saved to OneDrive, documents are automatically saved every few seconds, eliminating the need for you to continuously select Save or use shortcut keys. For the AutoSave function to work, save documents to a location in your OneDrive folder. The AutoSave function does not work with any location on your PC or Mac. If you have Microsoft 365 and save your files to OneDrive, enable AutoSave by selecting the toggle switch in the top-left corner of the Excel screen. When enabled, the switch will say On. To turn the feature off and save your work manually, change it to Off. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit