Save? Save As? Save as WHAT?

by Linda Johnson

Something I am often asked by my students is:
 "What's the difference between Save and Save As?"

Let me try to explain this in the clearest way possible. We'll use Microsoft Word 2000 for this example. When you create a brand new document and click on the Save button on your Standard Toolbar, you will be presented with the Save As dialog box because Word wants to know three things:

1. Where do you want to save it?
2. What do you want to name it?
3. What file type do you want it to be?

Once you have saved your new document, clicking on that same button no longer gives you these choices. Why? Because Word assumes you do not want to make those three choices again. Word assumes you simply want to update the originally saved copy by overwriting it with this new version of the same file. If, however, you do want to either put a copy of this same file in a new location, create a new copy with a new name, or change the file type, you must go to the File menu and choose Save As.

Remember that Windows will not allow you to have two files with the exact same name in the same folder, so when you save a file to a location where that file already exists, Windows will replace the existing file with your new one. So, if you do not want to overwrite the existing file, but rather want to create a copy with a different name, put this file in a different location, or change the file type, you must use the Save As option.

When you choose File/Save As, you can use the dropdown box at the top of the Save As dialog box, labeled Save in, to select the location where you want to save your new copy. You can also change the name of your new copy by using the File name input box and then either save it in a new location or in the same location as the original (because this new copy now has a different name). Furthermore, you can change the file type by selecting a new type from the dropdown box at the bottom of the Save As dialog that's labeled Save as type.

Let's look at some of these file type choices:

1. The first choice is obvious. It simply says Word Document, which is the format you would choose if you want this file to be opened by Word or some other compatible word processor.
2. The next choice is Web Page (or in older editions of Word and other programs, it may say html). This will save your file in a format that is viewable through a web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape). A document in this file format can be added to any existing website or used to become a website all on it's own.
3. The next choice is Document Template which allows you to save a file as a template, which can be used in place of the standard plain blank document if you want to create a new document with characteristics similar to this file. Notice that when you choose this type, Word will automatically change the Save in location to its default Template folder so that it will be accessible to you when you choose File/New to create a new document. If you change the location to save a template someplace else, you will not see this template among your choices when choosing File/New. So I'd recommend you let Word put it where it wants to put it.
4. Other choices you have in this dropdown list include various plain text options, formats that are compatible with older versions of Word, Corel WordPerfect types, formats for a Mac computer, and a format that is compatible with Microsoft Works. The type you choose will determine what program will open the file, so make your choices based on that fact.

The main thing to remember is that Save will simply overwrite your existing file, whereas Save As will give you the chance to choose any of the options discussed above.

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