The document could not be autosaved.

I've been working on a file iWork Numbers document for a couple of months now. The document has 4 worksheets and is 6.9 MB in size. I have been saving the document continuously to my iCloud account without issues as I've been working on the project.


However, yesterday, after closing Numbers and then later reopening the document, I was no longer able to save the document upon making changes to it. Everything I try is now met with the message; "The document could not be autosaved."



I am not able to Duplicate the document or Export the file to a different file type as the same message appears and the function is not performed.


After a bit of Googling, I believe the issue is a bug related to a "sandboxing" issue.


Is there a way to fix this issue so that the document can be saved again and I can continue to work on the project?


MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 26, 2020 3:57 AM

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3 replies

May 27, 2020 7:01 AM in response to P_A_U_L

Hi P_A_U_L,


Thanks for the post! I'd definitely want to make sure I was able to save my work in Numbers as well, and I'll be glad to see what assistance I can offer. As I understand it, you receive an error when you try saving a document in Numbers.


Are you able to try File > Save As, and then try saving it to a different folder?


Also, to narrow this down, are you able to save documents in other apps, like Pages?


Depending on how the above goes, there might be a few things to try. Have you changed anything related to your Home folder or user account recently? If so, see if this helps; permissions issues can cause errors like this when saving files: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder


Also, you mentioned you're using iCloud. Are you able to open and save the document from the iCloud website? If so, you might be able to make a duplicate copy of it from there and see if that works for you.


Best wishes.

Jun 1, 2020 5:24 AM in response to jeremy_v

Hi jeremy_v,


Thanks for the reply(apologies for my slow response!) Yes this is an infuriating problem to encounter indeed...


So, I am not able to File > Save As. In fact that option doesn't even appear. Only SAVE, DUPLICATE (and the other options shown below), both of which are met with the above "The document could not be autosaved." response.


When I try to File > Revert To (an older copy), I am met with this message:



I've also moved the file from iCloud to folder on my Mac HD using Finder (successfully), and can open the copied file into Numbers. Everything looks fine and the model I've created functions as should, until I make any change to the document and then get the same "The document could not be autosaved." response.


I've had no problems saving documents in other iWork apps to date. In fact Numbers works and Saves as should with both new and old files. It's just large complex files in Numbers that start to encounter this problem of being unable to Save further progress. For the first few weeks working on this document I was also able to save progress with no issues. This is the second Numbers document I've now had to have had this problem. Both of which were rather complex models that were referencing data from multiple sheets. I have 5 Sheets opened in the particular model I'm working on right now. I have a feeling the issue is related to the the size and complexity of the numbers file, though I have no idea as to why it happens? It feels like a bug to me.


I can also make a copy directly in iCloud. However when I then try to open either the copied file I get:


and also this message when I try to open the original:



To my knowledge, I've not changed anything related to my Home folder or user account recently. I'll check out the link you suggested to see if that brings anything up now...


The only workaround I've been able to fine is to copy each Numbers Sheet into a fresh document. This unfortunately breaks my model as the references to data in other sheets is not copied. I have to manually go through each sheet which is a real pain to do each time this problem occurs. When I do, I am able to work and save normally, until a few days later the problem starts again. It happened again yesterday after I closed and reopened the Numbers app...


Be really useful if I could figure out what it is I'm doing to make this happen (and how to stop it!).


Thanks again!


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The document could not be autosaved.

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