Mac 101 – Saving Files 5

Mac 101

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Mac 101 – Saving Files

Hey

As part of my Mac 101 series and a personal request from Brady, I am going to introduce good techniques on saving files. If you are new to the OS and have come from Windows saving files is slightly different but once you learn the tricks of the trade it is really simple. I can quickly navigate to deep levels on my Mac with the slightest of ease.

When you first open the Save dialog box you will see something like the image below. The open box will also look similar. Many of the techniques I mention here can be applied to opening files.

You should notice three things. The box where you name your file. The drop down menu showing “Desktop” and the encoding. The encoding section of the box will vary in applications and for the most part you don’t have to change. If you click on the drop down list you will be given a list of your Hard Drives main areas which are found in the sidebar of your Finder windows (Pictures, Music etc) and recent places. These are quick links to main areas where you can save your files.

The problem with using the drop down list is that it isn’t very specific. Brady’s problem was that he had to move files with Finder after saving them to his Desktop. You can of course get around this problem. If you click on the small down ward triangle where you name files you will be given a normal save box which you will have seen before.

Like with Finder you can navigate through your computer to the exact folder. You can use the view buttons in the top left corner. It basically becomes a small Finder window where you can save your files.

Saving files isn’t hard, it just takes a couple of minutes to work out what everything is and how you do it. If you are form Windows the second screen shot is very similar to the save dialog boxes you have seen before.


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5 Responses to “Mac 101 – Saving Files”

  1. 1

    Thanks!
    This really helped me out, I was forever navigating to deep parts of my mac now i can do this instead.

    Thanks again!
    GG

    Comment By GG on December 28th, at 2:15 pm

  2. 2

    Some more tips for open/save dialogs

    1a. Sometimes you may see the folder you want to save to in a Finder window next to your active application. Just drag the folder from Finder and drop it inside the open/save dialog.

    1b. The mini folder icons are also draggable. Take a look at the image below. In this Finder window the small light blue harddrive icon on top will be draggable over to the open/save dialog (as would the 5 folders in the list as per tip 1a).
    http://www.askdavetaylor.com/0-blog-pics/mac-os-x-finder-with-folder-sizes.jpg

    2. Shortcuts. Remember that the Finder shortcuts for certain system folders are the same in these dialogs.
    Go to Desktop = Command + D
    Go to Home = Command + Shift + H
    Go to iDisk = Command + Shift + i
    etc

    3. You can easily add folders to the left column of Finder windows. Just drag in your fav. folders and then drag them out when they are not needed anymore. The first thing I do when I have a new project is to drag the project folder over to this place.

    Comment By Anders on December 28th, at 10:53 pm

  3. 3

    In windows I was able to save multiple pictures at one time. I would select my photos (more than one) then I would rename one photo then windows would rename them all that but would add a consecutive number at the end of each different picture. Is there a way to do that on the mac???

    Comment By Christie Leithead on October 19th, at 6:06 am

  4. 4

    When I save a file in any application/program, finder choses the last used folder – this results in a problem where I by mistake save the file in some weird location depending on which application/program I used last.
    It’s mostly happens when I save a new version of an existing file.

    Is there a way to disable the “save to last used folder” feature and instead save to the location of the file I’m currently working on, so that the two version is in the same folder?

    Hope you can help!

    Comment By Henryette on January 19th, at 1:34 pm

  5. 5

    Wow, I feel so dumb not knowing all this simple stuff – just switched to a Mac after using PCs for the last 13 years! Thanks so much I’m so glad that it can be done – I was so sick of saving things onto my desktop!!

    Comment By Ashley Day on March 8th, at 3:49 am

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