XL: Using Saved Property to Determine If Workbook Has Changed

ID: Q141575

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SUMMARY

You can determine if changes have been made to a workbook by checking the Saved property of the workbook. The Saved property returns a True or False value depending on whether changes have been made to the workbook. Note that it is possible to set the Saved property to True or False. The "More Information" section of this article contains macro examples to demonstrate the use of the Saved property.

Various conditions in your worksheet, such as the presence of volatile functions, may affect the Saved property. For additional information about these conditions, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q109428
   TITLE     : XL5: "Save Changes in <Bookname>" Even If No Changes Made

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

Example 1: Macro to Display Message if Active Workbook Has Unsaved Changes

   Sub TestForUnsavedChanges()
       If ActiveWorkbook.Saved = False Then
           MsgBox "This workbook contains unsaved changes."
       End If
   End Sub

Example 2: Macro to Close Workbook and Discard Changes

This macro closes the workbook that contains the example code and discards any changes to the workbook by setting the Saved property to True:

   Sub CloseWithoutChanges()
       ThisWorkbook.Saved = True
       ThisWorkbook.Close
   End Sub

Example 3: Another Macro to Close Workbook and Discard Changes

   Sub CloseWithoutChanges()
       ThisWorkbook.Close SaveChanges:=False
   End Sub

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmHowto KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999