Last Person to Save a Workbook

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 22, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

Bill needs to investigate some changes that were made in a workbook. Key to starting this is to figure out who the last person was that saved the workbook. Bill wonders if this information is available in Excel. If so, he wonders if the information is compromised if someone subsequently opens the workbook but doesn't save it.

You can see the last person to save a workbook by displaying the File tab of the ribbon and then clicking Info at the left side of the screen. At the right side of the screen, under the heading "Related People," you can see two pieces of info regarding users: who created (authored) the workbook and who last saved the workbook. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Seeing who last saved a workbook.

This info is not disturbed unless someone again saves the workbook.

You can even see who last saved a workbook by taking these actions within Windows. (Go ahead and close Excel.)

  1. Locate the workbook you want to examine.
  2. Right-click on the workbook. Windows displays a Context menu.
  3. Choose Properties. Windows displays a Properties dialog box for the workbook.
  4. Display the Details tab of the dialog box.

In this dialog box you can see "Last Saved By" and a name. The name should match the one visible on the Info area described earlier.

If you prefer a macro solution, you could use this one-line macro to do the trick:

Sub LastSaver()
    MsgBox "Last saved by: " & ActiveWorkbook.BuiltinDocumentProperties("Last Author")
End Sub

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8800) applies to Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Resetting All Shortcut Keys

At some point you might want to wipe out all the custom shortcut keys you've created in Word. This is easy to do by ...

Discover More

Changing WordArt Text

WordArt can be used with just about any text you want. Here's how to change the text.

Discover More

Hiding Grammar Errors

Are you bothered by the green underlines that Word uses to mark potential grammar errors in your document? You can hide ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Viewing Workbook Statistics

Excel keeps track of a range of stats about each workbook you use. If you want to take a look at those stats, it's easy; ...

Discover More

Using a Single Password for Multiple Workbooks

While password protecting a workbook does provide some security for the contents in the workbook, if you have several ...

Discover More

Remembering Workbook Position and Size

Want Excel to remember where your workbooks were located on the screen and then open them in the same position the next ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is three less than 9?

2025-02-23 10:35:00

J. Woolley

For more about workbook document properties (built-in and custom) plus custom worksheet properties, see my comment here: https://excelribbon.tips.net/T009727

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.