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I use Windows 7. Since a few weeks, the behavior of "Save as" changed under all MS office programs I use (Excel, Word, Project). The behavior now is:

  • I open a document say D:\dir1\subdir1\subdir2...\subdir5\Document_old.doc or D:\dir2\subdir6\subdir7...\subdir10
  • I make changes and want to save as document_new.doc in the same folder
  • I click save as and get, be default, my Documents library as a save path

The behavior I want as default is to save the changed document in the same folder as the original.

There are possible workarounds, like having favorites in the explorer so I find my target paths easier. Due to the document handling we use at work this is not practical further down than subdir1 in my example, so I still have a lot of clicks to do. I looked under 'options' within excel and found no way to change the save-as behavior.

To be clear, having one default save location, no matter where, does not solve my problem as I'm working in many directories at any moment.

By contrast, xchange viewer lets me pick "Dir containing the document" as default save-as ...' location.

How can I change the behavior back to save in the dir containing the document by default?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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In my version 2017 Use the function button F12 on top of your keyboard, this activates the traditional "save as" without all the options, and you get the fast shortcut as an added advantage.

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As @DavidPostill suggested, putting a dot "." in "Default local file location" field appears to work. Excel then uses the current working directory, which will be the last place you opened or Saved As.. a workbook.

The only weird thing is that in the Open pane in newer versions of Excel, it won't show the name of that folder and instead shows ".", so it can be hard to tell sometimes which folder it is at first glance. Clicking "Browse" then opens up that same folder showing the name of the folder.

BTW - Using the Excel's VBA Editor(Alt+F11), you can run "?CurDir()" in the Immediate Window at any time to see Excel's Current Working Directory.

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How can I change the default save location?

Excel, PowerPoint, Project, and Word 2016:

  1. Click the "File" tab, and then click "Options".

  2. Click "Save".

  3. Under "Save workbooks", "Save presentations", "Save projects", or "Save documents", type the path in the "Default local file location" box.

Source Set a default working folder

Word 2013:

  1. Click the "File" tab, and then click "Options".

  2. Click "Save".

  3. Find and check the box "Save to Computer by Default".

  4. Under "Save documents", type the path in the "Default local file location" box.

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Source How to Change the Default Save Location in Office 2013

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    Useless for me, sadly. I'Ve clarified my question. Is there a non-rude way to say that it was also clear from my original question that this approach won't solve my problem?
    – mart
    Jun 13, 2017 at 6:54
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    What happens if you use . for the `"Default local file location"?
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Jun 13, 2017 at 8:30
  • Godd question, I can't check because suddenly I have the behavior I want with excel and word. Setting default location as . does not work in Project. I don't think I changed anything since yesterday! I had a host of software updates overnight, maybe ...
    – mart
    Jun 13, 2017 at 9:23

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