Saving Files

As silly as this scenario may sound, not finding a file after 'saving' it is a very common occurrence. I often hear, “I just saved a downloaded file from the web, but I can’t find it.” Or, “Someone sent me a file on Skype, but I don’t know where it went!” Or, “I saved an email attachment, but I do not know where it is!”

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? If so, there are steps you can take to help resolve or prevent it. A lot of people try to save things or ‘everything' onto the desktop. Don’t make that mistake! One person I heard about managed his laptop by storing all his important files on his desktop - and not just icons to launch software products. When his desktop got full , he saved the desktop, cleared out all of the links, then populated his desktop all over again. (What a mess it must have been to find anything on his desktop as he got well into this process!) If there is a way to mess up your computer, some people will find it!

Simple rule to remember: Use ‘Save As’

’The key issue is to use ‘Save As.’ Do not rely on just ‘Save’. While this rule sounds simple, software products vary in the way that they save a file or a webpage so it's difficult to know where the file has been saved on your system without using ‘Save As’.

Watch out for web browsers

Web browsers vary in regard to how they save webpages and downloaded files. If you are trying to save a particular webpage, then do the following:

• Web browsers Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox each have a menu capability, which allows you to click on ‘Save As’ after you click on ‘File’ at the top of each browser window. In order to see the Menu and be able to click on ‘File’, however, you first have to ‘turn on’ the Menu so the Menu is visible. With both of these browsers, right click at the top of the browser’s window and turn the check mark on by the word ‘Menu’.

• With the Google Chrome browser, simply right click on the webpage desired, then select ‘Save As’.

• With the Opera browser, click on its Menu (the Opera red logo at the top left of the browser window), move your mouse over ‘Page’, then select ‘Save as’.

Web browsers also vary in regard to how they allow you to save when downloading files (as opposed to webpages) from the internet. If you are trying to download a file (remember, not a webpage) from the web, then do the following:

• IE and Opera come with the default asking you where you want to store the file you downloaded from the internet. Ideally, you want to save the file on the computer. If Opera is not set this way, then go into its Menu (Opera logo top left of the window), select ‘Settings’, then at the bottom of these select “Advanced’, then then under ‘Download’ slide the button to the right to turn this on.

• With Firefox and Google Chrome, you have to configure these browsers to turn on the feature that will tell the browser to ask you where you want to save the file whenever downloading files from the internet.

• With Google Chrome, go into its Menu (the three dots at the top right of the window), select ‘Settings’, then at the bottom of these select “Advanced’, then then under ‘Download’ slide the button to the right to turn this on.

• With Firefox, go into its Menu (the three bars at the top right of the window), select ‘Options’, then under ‘Downloads’ click on the dot to the left of ‘Always ask you where to save files’.

With all these browsers you can also choose to have them save downloaded files (not webpages) into a specific folder on your computer. Determining where saved downloaded files go is usually completed by the browser’s setup which allows you to turn on the feature asking you where to save the file each time. While setting up the browser may sound easier and more convenient, it often leads to some confusion as to where your files are actually going because there are multiple ways of downloading files onto your computer, and not just when using a browser. To limit confusion, choose the option to ‘Save to a specific folder’, otherwise you may end up having to move files to their proper folder later.

Managing email and Skype attachments

• Skype. Skype has a canned folder to save data, and you can configure it to point to a folder of your own choosing, which is highly recommended versus using the default folder. The preferred method is for Skype to ask you where to put each received file.

  • To do this, enter Skype’s setting by clicking on the top right three bars, and then on ‘Settings’. The download settings are under ‘Messaging’.

  • Once in this area, turn off both ‘Auto-download photos’ and 'Auto-download files’ by sliding these buttons to the left. If these are turned on, the the files acquired via Skype will do into the folder defined just below the two ‘Auto-download’ entries, called ‘When I receive a file’.

  • To set the folder of your choosing, click on the blue word ‘Downloads’ and locate the folder of your choice, and save that.

  • When receiving files via Skype, you have to click on the icon of the received file to tell it to download it, and then you can right click on that icon and select ‘Save As’. Notice the reoccurring ‘Save As’? Using ‘Save As’ is the key to reducing your ability of ‘loosing’ files.

• Web-based email systems. Some web based email systems (Yahoo.com, gmail.com, AOL.com, Outlook.com) are harder to manage than non-web based email systems (such as when using an email application, such as the Microsoft Outlook Office program, or the Mozilla email program called Thunderbird). This is especially the case when trying to download an attachment from your email into your own folder of choice. Once you take the right steps within the particular email browser user interface (each email browser interface is very different, and they change periodically as well), they almost all ask you where you want to put the attachment.

Keep in mind that with all web based email that your email (the actual email text, as well as any attachments, and all the email folders you have created) exist only online at the email server, and that none of this is on your computer at all, even tough you see it on your screen (similar to the iPhone with pictures residing in the online iCloud, instead of on your actual iPhone). So, when you are 'saving' an attachment, or even the email text itself, from your web based email, you are actually downloading this data from the web onto your computer, into a folder of your own choosing.

Beware of Windows’ Predefined file system

To understand where to save and look later for your downloaded files, to keep from ‘loosing’ them, you need to have some basic knowledge of your Windows file system . Because Windows provides a basic set of predefined folders, it contributes to the problem with regards to ‘loosing’ files. The basic predefined folders I am referring to are named ‘Download,’ ‘My pictures’, ‘My documents’, or ‘My Videos', and so on Now that you see that there are many ways of downloading files (such as from email, from Skype or other applications, from you manually downloading files from the internet, saving web pages, and more), some of these downloaded files may go into different predefined Windows provided folders, and sometimes, the files are even more hidden than the usual folder names. By using the ‘Save As’ feature regularly, you can avoid files going into one of these predefined folders. If file management is a challenge for you, this basic technique of using ‘Save As’ will make it easier to find files.

Recommendations

In conclusion:

1. Try to use ‘Save As’ whenever possible, which might mean configuring the browser to allow you to use it, and

2. Try to learn basic file management with the Windows file manager software called Explorer or Windows Explorer.

Together, these steps will help you find files you've downloaded and saved, limiting your frustration and confusion with your system.