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? 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.

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.

Save As creates a copy of the original. When you do a Save As, your original document/photo will NOT have the changes you are saving with Save As; the changes will appear only in the new copy.

For example, you could have a letter template that you created in Word called Letter.doc. You can go into the template and add personal info for a given client, and then Save As, changing the file name to reflect the client. You might do a Save As, changing the name to ‘Letter_John_Doe.doc.’ Your original template, Letter.doc, remains unchanged, but you have a personalized version of the letter saved with the client’s info called ‘Letter_John_Doe.doc’ in your list of documents. Perhaps you want to make sure that the template never contains sensitive client information, including identity, or you are making extensive changes for each copy and must start with the same original material.