Which version of Excel and what automatic backup settings are you talking
about?
Versions prior to Excel 2002 had a real AutoSave which overwrote the
workbook with a save at specified time intervals. Good or bad feature
depending on how you look at it.
Versions since 2000 use Auto Recovery which only creates a timed but
temporary backup file which is deleted when the workbook is closed normally.
Auto Recovery is a safety valve in the event of an Excel crash while a
workbook is open.
Jan Karel Pieterse has an addin called AutoSafe
which doen't alert before saving.
http://www.jkp-ads.com/download.asp
(look for AutoSafe.zip)
It doesn't overwrite the existing workbook when it saves. It saves to a
user selectable folder. And when it's done, it either deletes these backups
(or puts them in the recycle bin). And the user can always restore the
backups from the recycle bin.
If you still have access to the AutoSave add-in from Excel 2000 it may work
with 2007................it did work with 2002 and 2003
Note: you can File>Save As>Tools>General Options>Always create a backup
which will leave you with a *.XLK file that is always one version behind the
current workbook.
Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP