Microsoft’s change to cloud folders only in Microsoft 365 can be stopped in three different ways. Regain full control of your document options, including two options to stop this unloved feature from appearing at all!
People are complaining about Microsoft’s change to showing cloud storage only in Microsoft 365, before it’s even happened. There are options to turn it off, if you know where to look.
Word options
The simplest way is to restore local folder saving. Once the cloud folder only change appears on your Microsoft 365 app, you can turn it off.
Go to File | Options | Save then turn off ““Create new files in the cloud automatically”
Check the box “Save to local location”
And set a preferred local folder to use by default.
“AutoSave files stored in the Cloud by default in Word“
Registry
There are two Windows registry changes available to stop the cloud-only changes from appearing. These can be added at any time to prevent the Microsoft 365 changes happening in the future.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\Common\fileioEnablecloudonlysaveasmodeDWORD
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\GeneralPreferCloudSaveLocationsDWORD
For both keys set to 0 (zero) to keep the current local & cloud saving options.
0 = Local and Cloud
1 = Cloud only.
This should block any future change to Excel and PowerPoint too.
Group Policy
In organizations, there are matching Group Policies available.
The latest Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML) for Microsoft Office are required.
Policies | Administrative Templates | Microsoft Office 2016 | Miscellaneous | Restrict saving on non-Cloud locations
Setting : enablecloudonlysaveasmode
Disable = allow local and cloud
Enable = cloud only
This should block any future change to Excel and PowerPoint too.
Thanks to “intrepid” for the registry and policy intel.
