Section 6.4. Saving Documents: All Versions


6.4. Saving Documents: All Versions

In a few programs, such as the Calculator or Solitaire, you don't actually create any documents; when you close the window, no trace of your work remains.

Most programs, however, are designed to create documents files that you can reopen for further editing, send to other people, back up on another disk, and so on.

That's why these programs offer File Save and File Open commands, which let you preserve the work youve done, saving it onto the hard drive as a new file icon so that you can return to it later.

6.4.1. The Save Dialog Box

When you choose File Save for the first time, youre asked where you want the new document stored on your hard drive (Figure 6-2). In Windows Vista, this Save As dialog box is crystal-clear; in fact, for the first time in Windows history it's now a full Explorer window , complete with taskbar, Navigation pane, Search box, Views menu, and Organize menu. All of the skills you've picked up working at the desktop come into play here; you can even delete a file or folder right from within the Save or Open box. (The Delete command is in the Organize menu.)

Figure 6-2. When the Save box first opens, it may appear in the collapsed form shown at top. Click the Browse Folders button to expand it into the full-blown dialog box shown at bottom. Type a name , choose a folder location, and specify the format for the file you're saving .


To give it a try, launch any Windows program that has a Save or Export commandWordPad, for example. (Not all programs from other software companies have updated their Save dialog boxes yet.) Type a couple of words and then choose File Save. The Save As dialog box appears (Figure 6-2).

6.4.2. Saving into Your Documents Folder

The first time you use the File Save command to save a file, Windows suggests putting your newly created document in your Documents folder.

For many people, this is an excellent suggestion. First, it means that your file won't accidentally fall into some deeply nested folder where you'll never see it again. Instead, it will be waiting in the Documents folder, which is very difficult to lose.

Second, it's very easy to make a backup copy of your important documents if they're all in one folder. There's a third advantage, too: the Documents folder is also what Windows displays whenever you use a program's File Open command. In other words, the Documents folder saves you time both when creating a new file and when retrieving it.


Tip: If the Documents folder becomes cluttered, feel free to make subfolders inside it to hold your various projects. You could even create a different default folder in Documents for each program.

6.4.3. Saving into Other Folders

Still, the now-familiar Navigation pane (page 66) also appears in the Save dialog box. (At least it does in the Save box's expanded from; see Figure 6-2.) So do the Address bar (page 60) and the Search box. You always have direct access to other places where you might want to save a newly created file.

All the usual keyboard shortcuts apply: Alt+up arrow, for example, to open the folder that contains the current one. There's even a New Folder button on the toolbar, so you can generate a new, empty folder in the current list of files and folders. Windows asks you to name it.

In fact, if, on some project, you often find yourself having to navigate to some deeply buried folder, press +D to duck back to the desktop, open any Explorer window, and drag the folder to your Favorite Links list. From now on, you'll have quick access to it from the Save dialog box.


Tip: Many programs let you specify a different folder as the proposed location for saved (and reopened) files. In Microsoft Word, for example, you can change the default folders for the documents you create, where your clip art is stored, and so on.

6.4.4. Navigating the List by Keyboard

When the Save As dialog box first appears, the "File name" text box is automatically selected so you can type a name for the newly created document.

But as noted earlier in this chapter, a Windows dialog box is elaborately rigged for keyboard control. In addition to the standard Tab/Space bar controls, a few special keys work only within the list of files and folders. Start by pressing Shift+Tab (to shift Windows' attention from the "File name" text box to the list of files and folders) and then:

GEM IN THE ROUGH
Why You See Document Names in Black

In the Save dialog box, Windows displays a list of both folders and documents (documents that match the kind you're about to save, that is).

It's easy to understand why folders appear here: so that you can double-click one if you want to save your document inside it. But why do documents appear here? After all, you can't very well save a document into another document.

Documents are listed here so that you can perform one fairly obscure stunt : If you click a document's name, Windows copies its name into the "File name" text box at the bottom of the window. That's a useful shortcut if you want to replace an existing document with the new one you're saving. By saving a new file with the same name as the existing one, you force Windows to overwrite it (after asking your permission, of course).

This trick also reduces the amount of typing needed to save a document to which you've assigned a different version number. For example, if you click the Thesis Draft 3.1 document in the list, Windows copies that name into the "File name" text box; doing so keeps it separate from earlier drafts. To save your new document as Thesis Draft 3.2 , you only need to change one character (change the 1 to 2) before clicking the Save button.


  • Press various letter keys to highlight the corresponding file and folder icons. To highlight the Program Files folder, for example, you could type PR . (If you type too slowly, your keystrokes are interpreted as separate initiativeshighlighting first the People folder and then the Rodents folder, for example.)

  • Press the Page Up or Page Down keys to scroll the list up or down. Press Home or End to highlight the top or bottom item in the list.

  • Press the arrow keys (up or down) to highlight successive icons in the list.

  • When a folder (or file) is highlighted, you can open it by pressing the Enter key (or double-clicking its icon, or clicking the Open button).

6.4.5. The File Format Drop-Down Menu

The Save As dialog box in many programs offers a menu of file formats (usually referred to as file types ) below or next to the "File name" text box. Use this drop-down menu when preparing a document for use by somebody whose computer doesn't have the same software.

UP TO SPEED
Dialog Box Basics

To the delight of the powerful Computer Keyboard lobby, you can manipulate almost every element of a Windows dialog box by pressing keys on the keyboard. If you're among those who feel that using the mouse to do something takes longer, you're in luck.

The rule for navigating a dialog box is simple: Press Tab to jump from one set of options to another, or Shift+Tab to move backward. If the dialog box has multiple tabs , like the one shown here, press Ctrl+Tab to "click" the next tab, or Ctrl+ Shift +Tab to "click" the previous one.

Each time you press Tab, the PC's focus shifts to a different control or set of controls. Windows reveals which element has the focus by using text highlighting (if it's a text box or drop-down menu), or a dotted -line outline (if it's a button). In the illustration shown here, the "Different odd and even" checkbox has the focus.

Once you've highlighted a button or checkbox, simply press the Space bar to "click" it. If you've opened a drop-down list or set of mutually exclusive option buttons , or radio buttons , press the up or down arrow key. (Once you've highlighted a drop-down list's name, you can also press the F4 key to open it.)

Each dialog box also contains larger, rectangular buttons at the bottom (OK and Cancel, for example). Efficiency fans should remember that tapping the Enter key is always the equivalent of clicking the default buttonthe one with the darkened or thickened outline (the OK button in the illustration here). And pressing Esc almost always means Cancel (or "Close this box").


For example, if you've typed something in Microsoft Word, you can use this menu to generate a Web page document or a Rich Text Format document that you can open with almost any standard word processor or page-layout program.




Windows Vista. The Missing Manual
Windows Vista: The Missing Manual
ISBN: 0596528272
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 284
Authors: David Pogue

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