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

Finding and Replacing in Headers and Footers

If you need to make replacements in your document, the Find and Replace tool is the go-to option. If you want to replace ...

Discover More

Counting Unique Values with Functions

Using Excel to maintain lists of information is not unusual. When working with the list you may need to determine how ...

Discover More

Strange Message about Others Making Changes in a Workbook

Have you ever tried to save a workbook, only to be notified that someone else has made changes in it? What if you are the ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Creating Workbooks for Individual Worksheets

If you have a workbook with lots of worksheets, you may want those worksheets to be saved off in individual workbooks. ...

Discover More

Copying a Single Worksheet from Many Workbooks

Sometimes it is helpful to copy worksheets from one workbook to another. If you have dozens of such worksheets to copy, ...

Discover More

Opening a Workbook as Read-Only

When you need to work on a workbook, you may want to do so without modifying the original contents of the workbook. This ...

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.

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 0 + 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.