XL: How to Avoid "Save Changes?" When You Close a Workbook

ID: Q129153

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can create a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that suppresses the "Save Changes?" prompt when you close a workbook. You can do this either by specifying the state of the workbook's Saved property or by suppressing all alerts for the workbook.

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/
Before working with each example below, perform the following steps:

1. Open a new workbook.

2. Insert a new module sheet: 

   - In Microsoft Excel 97 or Microsoft Excel 98, point to Macro on the
     Tools menu, and then click Visual Basic Editor. In the Editor, click
     Module on the Insert menu.

   - In Microsoft Excel versions 5.0 and 7.0, point to Macro on the Insert
     menu, and then click Module.
3. Type the sample macro code into the module sheet.

The Saved property returns the value False if changes have been made to a workbook since it was last saved.

You can use the reserved subroutine name "Auto_Close" to specify a macro that should run whenever a workbook is closed. By doing this, you can control how the document is handled when the user is finished and has instructed Microsoft Excel to close it.

Example 1: Closing the Workbook Without Saving Changes

To force a workbook to close without saving any changes, use the following code in a Visual Basic module sheet of that workbook: 

   Sub Auto_Close()
       ThisWorkbook.Saved = True
   End Sub
Because the Saved property is set to True, Microsoft Excel thinks the workbook has already been saved and that no changes have occurred since that last save.

The DisplayAlerts property of the application can be used for the same purpose. For example, the following macro turns DisplayAlerts off, closes the active workbook without saving changes, and then turns DisplayAlerts on again. 

   Sub CloseBook()
       Application.DisplayAlerts = False
       ActiveWorkbook.Close
       Application.DisplayAlerts = True
   End Sub
You can also do this by using the SaveChanges argument of the Close method.

The following macro closes the workbook without saving changes: 

   Sub CloseBook2()
       ActiveWorkbook.Close savechanges:=False
   End Sub

Example 2: Closing the Workbook and Saving the Changes

To force a workbook to save changes, use the following code on a module sheet of that workbook: 

   Sub Auto_Close()
       If ThisWorkbook.Saved = False Then
           ThisWorkbook.Save
       End If
   End Sub
This subroutine checks to see if the file's Saved property is False. If so, then the workbook has been changed since the last save, and it saves those changes.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q63815
   TITLE     : Excel: Avoiding "Save Changes?" When Closing a Macro
               Sheet
Additional query words: 5.00 5.00a 5.00c 7.00 8.00 Mac XL5 XL7 XL97 XL98 
Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmEvnt KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999