How To Undo In Excel After Save: 4 Different Ways

Avatar for Mia
By  
how to undo in excel after save

If you have saved and closed your Excel worksheet, there may come a time when you want to undo changes in Excel and revert to a previous version. This article will introduce you to four methods on how to undo in excel after saving and closing the file, which will help you recover lost Excel files.

When working with Excel, it often happens that you save your work unintentionally, and later realize that you want to revert some changes. Good thing there are various ways to reverse stored adjustments. Four simple and efficient ways to undo Excel changes after saving and closing.

Working on an essential Excel file and accidently shutting it without saving has frustrated us all. If our computer crashes, we lose unsaved modifications. We may feel that our efforts have been permanently lost. However, optimism remains! You can generally restore deleted Excel files.

WinfrGUI can recover Excel files erased accidentally, lost due to hard disk formatting, or other reasons. Three easy procedures can restore data from a computer or other storage device.

Step 1: Choose a location and click “Scan.”

Select the disk or folder where you lost Excel files, then click “Find Lost Data” to scan.

Step 2: Locate your Excel file.

To easily discover the relevant Excel file in the scan results, click “Documents” in the left panel, choose “xls” or “xlsx,” then click “Preview” to confirm.

Step 3: Recover Excel Files

Click “Recover” after selecting the Excel file. Choose a local or cloud folder to save the recovered file. 

Part 1: How To Undo In Excel After Saving and Closing the File

If you want to restore the original data of a worksheet after making edits, you might consider undoing all the changes made. Although the undo function in Excel can help, repeatedly clicking the undo button can be time-consuming, especially when you have made multiple changes. This section provides additional information on how to recover lost Excel files.

Solution 1: Press the back button.

If you haven’t closed the Excel worksheet yet, you can easily undo the save by using the undo button on the Home tab. To revert changes in the current worksheet, click the “Undo” button in the “Quick Access Toolbar.”

Expand the back button to view the complete list of changes made in the worksheet, then select the most recent edit to revert all changes at once.

An important thing to note is that the undo list includes changes made in other sheets within the same workbook, which makes it difficult to revert changes in a specific sheet using this method.

Solution 2: Use the shortcut Ctrl+Z to undo changes in Excel.

Please note that once you save and close the document, some actions cannot be undone as it will erase the undo memory. If you do not have a backup copy, you will not be able to revert the changes. However, if the document is still open, you can quickly undo changes by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z or by clicking the undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar. After undoing, don’t forget to save the document again.

Solution 3: Use version history to undo the save.

Another way to undo a save in Excel is to access the version history of the workbook. This method is useful when you want to recover a previous version of your workbook.

OneDrive is a great option for storing Excel files. It offers 2 GB of free storage with the option to purchase more if needed. OneDrive keeps previous versions of your files, allowing you to restore earlier versions. Follow these steps to recover unsaved Excel data from OneDrive:

  • Step 1: Go to the OneDrive website and log in with your account information.
  • Step 2: Select the folder where you saved your files by clicking on it.
  • Step 3: Right-click on the Excel document you want.
  • Step 4: Select “Version History” to view all previous versions of the file.
  • Step 5: Once you find the desired version, click “Download” to save a copy or “Restore” to replace the current version.

Solution 4: Cancel changes in Excel by restoring data.

To quickly recover the original data of a modified worksheet in a lost Excel file, it is recommended to create a backup copy of that worksheet. You can easily back up the worksheet using the VBA code provided below.

  • Step 1: Keep the original data in the worksheet and press Alt + F11 to open the Microsoft Visual Basic Application window.
  • Step 2: In the Microsoft Visual Basic Application window, click on “Insert” > “Module” and then copy and paste the provided VBA code into the module window.
  • Step 3: Press the F5 key to run the code. This will create a backup sheet with content identical to the original sheet.

Part 2: How to recover a previous version of an Excel file after saving.

If you have made changes to an Excel file but have not canceled or saved those changes, you can try the following methods to recover an older version of the file. Windows has a built-in feature that automatically saves versions of your files while you are working, provided you have enabled the AutoRecover option. Follow the steps below to recover the unsaved previous version of Excel:

  • Step 1: Go to “File” > “Info” > “Manage Workbook” > “Recover Unsaved Workbooks.”
  • Step 2: Select the file you want to recover and click “Open.”
  • Step 3: To save the file, click on “Save As” on the top bar of the file.

Conclusion

This article describes four easy Excel recording cancellation methods. Choose any of these strategies to finish. This tutorial should be useful and instructive. Comments are welcome if you need help comprehending the material. If you have additional methods that we may have overlooked, please share them with us. For other file recovery software needs, consider using WinfrGUI.

How To Undo In Excel After Save – Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about undoing changes in how to undo in excel after save:

How to undo all changes to get back the original data in Excel?

You can cancel all changes and restore the original data in Excel by using the “Undo” function, which can be done by pressing Ctrl + Z on the keyboard or going to the “Edit” menu and selecting “Undo.” If you want to revert all data back to its original state, you may need to close the file without saving the changes or use the “Open” function to open the original file again if you have a copy of the original file.

Use the back button and shortcut keys to undo all edits and restore the original data.

Restore any changes using the backup of the original data.

WinfrGUI has an option to cancel all edits and restore the original data.

Can you recover an Excel file that you accidentally overwrote?

If you have enabled File History or Windows backup in Windows 10 or 11, you can try to recover the Excel file that was overwritten by using a previous version.

You can revert changes in Excel after saving by using the “Previous Versions” or “Document Recovery” feature. If you have enabled auto-save or have previous versions saved, you can go to “File” > “Info” > “Previous Versions” to view and restore the desired version.

If the document is still open, you can undo the changes by clicking the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar or by using the shortcut Ctrl+Z. Don’t forget to save the document again after you have undone the changes!

How can you revert changes after saving a document?

Normally, if you frequently use the undo feature and haven’t closed the document yet, you can return to the point where you started making edits. To do this, save the document with a new name using the “Save As” command, then undo the changes and save the document with the original name.

This is a summary of our guide on how to reverse changes in Excel after saving and closing the program. We hope you find it valuable. If you have any further questions, please refer to the FAQ section.