Page 1 of 3 When writing email, creating documents, spreadsheets, or working with other types of files, two almost universal functions are Save and Save As. These appear as selections under the File menu, which can be found in the top left-hand corner of all programs. When you save a file, you record (or save) a copy of it to the hard drive so that you can open it to read and edit again and again.
Save is used for files that have already been named and saved at least once before. Save takes changes that have been made to the file and updates the existing saved file with these changes. When you select Save, you may not even notice that anything has happened, but the changes you have made to the file are now permanently saved. In addition to the Save selection under the File menu, there is often a Save button on the Standard Toolbar that serves the same function.Save As serves two purposes. It is used the first time a new file is saved, and it is used to change the name of a file being saved.
The first time a file is saved, you tell the computer what the name of the file will be and where the file is to be stored on your computer. When you select Save As, a dialog box appears to help you make the appropriate choices. In fact, if you are working with a new file that has never been saved before, the Save As dialog box appears even if you select Save.
The Save As dialog box is common to most programs, from Microsoft Works and Office to Internet Explorer and AOL. Across the top of the box is a field with the words Save In to the left. This shows you where the file will be saved. The location that appears in the Save In field depends on the default setting of the program in use or where you last decided to save a file (that location being automatically repeated as a default preference).
Note the drop down arrow to the right of the Save In field. (See the Red Arrow below.) Click on the arrow to reveal a selection of locations to which you may save the file. Some of the locations should be familiar to you. Desktop is your desktop. My Documents is the default folder where most Microsoft programs save their files. You can select other locations as you wish.
Note: You cannot use this list to directly save files to the CD drives. To save a file onto a blank CD, you must use a special CD burning software such as Nero, Roxio, or Prassi. Your version of Windows XP may also have some built-in controls for burning files to CDs. 
A folder like My Documents may have other folders within it. These are called subfolders. When selecting a location to save your file, you can double-click on a folder to see if it contains subfolders into which you might want to save the file. Double-click on the subfolder to open it. When you have chosen the location you wish to save the file, move on to naming the file.
In the example shown here the file is being saved to the Desktop - because Desktop is in the Save In box. Once I clicked on the arrow, the list appeared. I can click any location to change the location of my saved file - My Documents or even the Network Neighborhood.
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