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Word for Mac 2019 on Big Sur won't save doc file

April 5, 2021 - I have the same question as asked below, and I need help recovering eight hours worth of work in MS Word on my Mac today that indicated it was being saved but it nowhere to be found on my Mac. Please help. Thank you.


"When I try to save a Word document, the Save command is accepted but the file is not saved. There are no error messages. The Finder shows the previous save date and time.


If I Close the doc window, a dialog box appears with a prompt to save the file, the window closes, and then reopens. The document is unsaved and the Finder shows the previous save date and time.


If I try to Save As with a new file name, the Finder shows the new file briefly (zero bytes file size) and then disappears from the list.


If I try to Quit Word, a dialog box appears that with a prompt to Save, clicking Save produces a second dialog box that says the location of the document cannot be determined.


I'm running Word for Mac 2019 (16.43) on Big Sur (11.0.1). The application and (original) file are both located on the computer's hard disk. Both programs appear to be the latest revs. I suspect it's a Big Sur compatibility issue since it didn't happen on Catalina.


Any suggests to recover my edits before I loose hours of work? Thank you.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 25, 2020 1:40 PM"


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 5, 2021 1:07 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 5, 2021 3:50 PM

Any suggests to recover my edits before I loose hours of work? Thank you.

Save it as a docx?

Try saving in plain text, at least you could recover that part if nothing else works.

Where on the hard drive are you trying to save the file? Inside your Home would be preferable, but also inside of /Users/Shared should also work without problems.


I'm using Word 16.47 and the current version of Big Sur and I don't have any problem saving Word files in either the new or old format.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 5, 2021 3:50 PM in response to job26red

Any suggests to recover my edits before I loose hours of work? Thank you.

Save it as a docx?

Try saving in plain text, at least you could recover that part if nothing else works.

Where on the hard drive are you trying to save the file? Inside your Home would be preferable, but also inside of /Users/Shared should also work without problems.


I'm using Word 16.47 and the current version of Big Sur and I don't have any problem saving Word files in either the new or old format.

Word for Mac 2019 on Big Sur won't save doc file

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