Saving Documents

When you save a document, you put a copy of it on disk. You can then open it at a later time to edit or print it.

Tips

• Until you save a document, its information is stored only in your computer's memory (RAM). Your work on the document could be lost in the event of a power outage or system crash.

• It's a good idea to save documents frequently as you work. This ensures that the most recent versions are always saved to disk.

• Opening files is covered near the beginning of this chapter.

To save a document for the first time

1.	Choose File > Save or File > Save As (Figure 10), press , or click the Save button on the Standard toolbar.
2.	Use the Save As dialog that appears (Figure 89) to navigate to the folder in which you want to save the file: Figure 89. The Save As dialog. Click a view button to display the list of files and folders in list (Figure 89) or column view. Click an item in the Sidebar to display the contents of that item. Use the pop-up menu above the list of files (Figure 90) to backtrack through the file hierarchy or open a recently opened folder. Figure 90. The pop-up menu near the top of the Save As dialog. Double-click a folder to open it. Click the New Folder button to create a new folder within the current folder. Enter the name for the folder in the New Folder dialog (Figure 91) and click Create. Figure 91. The New Folder dialog.
3.	Enter a name for the file in the Save As box.
4.	If the document will be opened by a Windows user, turn on the Append file extension check box to enhance compatibility. The characters .doc appear at the end of the file name.
5.	Click Save.

The file is saved to disk. Its name appears on the window's title bar (Figure 92).

Figure 92. The name you give a document appears in its title bar after you save it.

Tips

• You can use the Format pop-up menu in the Save As dialog (Figure 93) to specify a different format for the file. This enables you to save the document in a format that can be opened and read by other versions of Word or other applications.

  Figure 93. You can use the Format pop-up menu to specify a file format.

  

  
  

• If you save a file with the same name and same disk location as another file, a dialog with two buttons appears (Figure 94):

  Figure 94. This dialog appears when you attempt to save a file with the same name and same disk location as another file.

  

  
  

  • Cancel redisplays the Save As dialog box so you can change the name or location of the file you are saving.

  • Replace replaces the file already on disk with the file you are saving.

To save changes to a document

Choose File > Save (Figure 10), press , or click the Save button on the Standard toolbar.

The document is saved with the same name in the same location on disk.

To save a document with a different name or in a different disk location

1.	Choose File > Save As (Figure 10).
2.	Follow steps 2 and/or 3 in the section titled "To save a document for the first time" to select a new disk location and/or enter a different name for the file.
3.	Click the Save button.

To save a document as a template

1.	Choose File > Save As (Figure 10).
2.	Enter a name for the file in the Save As box.
3.	Choose Document Template from the Format pop-up menu (Figure 93). The file list portion of the dialog automatically displays the contents of the My Templates folder (Figure 95). Figure 95. The Save As dialog when you save a document as a template.
4.	Click the Save button. The file is saved as a template. Its name appears in the document title bar.

Tips

• To begin using a template right after you created it, close it, then follow the instructions near the beginning of this chapter to open a new file based on a template. The template appears in the My Templates area of the Project Gallery dialog (Figure 96).

  Figure 96. When a file has been saved as a template, it appears in the Project Gallery dialog.

  
  
  

• I tell you more about templates in the beginning of this chapter.