Our kickoff feature can be a lifesaver. You have not been fully baptized in Excel until you have lost some work. We show you ways to minimize that risk.
Suggestion 1. Upgrade to the XP version of Excel. This feature is worth the price of the upgrade. One thing sure about crashes. They often come when you don't expect it. The XP version of Excel does away with the separate add-in AutoSave. Instead, they have a feature Auto Recovery which they have incorporated into the program. Good move. This is too important of a feature to be just an add-in.
To get to this feature:
From the menu bar, select Tools
Select Options
Click the tab that says Save
Check the AutoRecover settings
Default is every 10 minutes- that works for me
This works behind the scenes and is pretty quick. Not as distracting as earlier versions. I suggest keeping the time short.
Remember, the longer you set the time, the work you have at risk. If you increase it to 30 minutes, you risk losing 30 minutes of work.
What happens when your system crashes? You reboot the system. Pull up Excel. It will give you the option of pulling up the recovered file or the last version of the file that you manually saved.
Suggestion 2. Do quick manual saves. You could click the floppy drive icon, but I find this works even easier. Click the Ctrl key and the S key at the same time. They are located close together, so your pinky and your forefinger can do it quick. I think you will find this a better way to save.
Suggestion 3. If you don't have the XP version, the alternative is to fire up an add-in from the Tools menu called Auto Save. Similar to AutoRecover, although I think AutoRecover works better.
Save early and often. Unless you are lucky, you will crash and it will come at just the wrong time, when you would have made DaVinci proud of your work.