Peter, you can't bypass the automatic save feature in Docs. Docs is a cloud-based app, and the beauty of that is that users never have to worry about whether or not their document was saved. If you don't want a word-processing app to automatically save your work, I'd recommend using a local app rather than a cloud-based one.

In terms of reverting to an earlier version of your document, that is something that can only be done on the desktop version of Docs at this time, so you would have to use a laptop or desktop computer to do that.

To help influence future feature changes or additions in Docs, I encourage you to provide feedback about this directly to the Docs team by following these steps:

Open a document.
Click Help > Report a problem.
Enter your feedback.

Although the product team is unable to respond to individual users directly, they review this feedback regularly and use it to help improve the product over time. Google doesn't check the help forums for user feedback, so it's important that you use the in-product tool. The more users who request this capability via in-product feedback, the greater the chances are of the team considering it.

For Mobile: To submit feedback from the mobile app, tap the menu in the top-left of the app (top-right in a file), tap Help & Feedback, and then choose Send Feedback to write and submit your report.

~Jo

Peter Cribbett

Nov 1, 2019

Thanks for the suggestion, and the information.

Jo S.

Diamond Product Expert

I've been volunteering in the help forums since 2013. I do NOT work for Google.

Nov 1, 2019

My pleasure, Peter.

~Jo

Joan Norman

Jan 5, 2020

The "beauty" is that you never have to save. I think that is the biggest downfall. Google sheets is the worst program I have ever used AND I used Lotus 1-2-3. It is 20 years behind Excel.