Cannot "Save As" in Preview (10.7)

[theelysium]

I really don't get how can a feature which automatically saves every version of your work, therefore releasing you from having to "save" or "save as", be considered to slow someone down.

Here is what I use it for. I have to do screen casts at work. Since iMovie does not have a way for me to annotate on the screen I have to take the image I need to markup and export it. Once I have the image I open it in Preview.

Most of the time when I annotate it's boxes around specific areas of the screen as I am talking about where things are.

I open the original photo add a box around an object save as slide 2. I then add some more annotation to the slide and then save as slide 3 and so on until you have a continual progression of boxes showing up around areas of interest on the image. Back in iMovie it looks like It is animated as I am talking.

It normally took me about 10 minutes to do this in SL, now it's forever. The duplicate feature does not work the same. It also tries to remember changes I don't want it to. After you duplicate or export or save version Lion does not open the folder the original file you are editing was in. So you have to navigate back through everything. There should be a preference built-in to go back to the way SL saved. It was much better this sucks.

Or wait I know how about to you don't remove the features everyone is used to and just ADD new ones.

 

[RJCP]

I can see where many of you are coming from: the no longer existing ability to create a different copy of a document from within the app in the traditional way (because you can still do it with duplicate). I think it all has to do with people's habits. I mean, I've written my whole Masters thesis on SL and was constantly hitting cmd+s and anyone who's written extensive paperwork like this knows we inevitably get to a point where every pause from typing the actual text is an excuse to go grab a cup of coffee, launch a couple of Youtube videos and so on.

Now, I'm not saying that AutoSave and Versions will be the definitive cure for human procrastination, but being able to keep typing as long as my focus permits without having to interrupt my thoughts flow to hit a saving shortcut, is some REALLY brilliant stuff in my opinion.

If duplicate isn't saving your location preferences at the moment, it surely will in the future. Just right some nice feedback to Apple saying you'd like to get this feature in a future update to Lion. Writing to them hissing like an angry 4 old and threatening to go back to SL won't do anything. Do you think they care? They won't...Lion isn't without it's faults, but IMHO, my whole computer using experience has been improved by this piece of Software and it's not like I'm a brainless teen chewing up every piece of glitter and nice graphics that Apple throws at me: I like to get my work done on a stable, time-efficient and, even better, visually appealing (and not blinding blinging...W7...) operating system. Lion does that for me.

 

[mrapplegate]

I can see where many of you are coming from: the no longer existing ability to create a different copy of a document from within the app.

The problem is there is, and it is called Duplicate. The main argument is that this hinders people's workflow.

 

[RJCP]

The problem is there is, and it is called Duplicate. The main argument is that this hinders people's workflow.

Just edited my post while you were posting yours

It's like some reviews say: with Lion, Apple has stopped kindly inviting people to take a leap into the Future train. It just went for it and decided not to kindly ask permission to do it. Whoever wants to follow and embrace change, will. The rest will just moan about the good ol' days... It's like that in every field of human knowledge.

 

[mrapplegate]

Just edited my post while you were posting yours

It's like some reviews say: with Lion, Apple has stopped kindly inviting people to take a leap into the Future train. It just went for it and decided not to kindly ask permission to do it. Whoever wants to follow and embrace change, will. The rest will just moan about the good ol' days... It's like that in every field of human knowledge.

Yes, I agree.

 

[Jus11]

The problem is there is, and it is called Duplicate. The main argument is that this hinders people's workflow.

Yes, this is ridiculous. How much would it have cost them to include "save as"? Feels like they want to decide your workflow on behalf of you; and the decision is that you want to do it the harder way.

I used "save as" with Preview and Pages all the time. Work-arounds are not satisfactory. Do they want me to go back to Word? Idiots. This "upgrade" must have been done by people who actually don't use the stuff they make for real-life purposes.

 

[mrapplegate]

Yes, this is ridiculous. How much would it have cost them to include "save as"? Feels like they want to decide your workflow on behalf of you; and the decision is that you want to do it the harder way.

I used "save as" with Preview and Pages all the time. Work-arounds are not satisfactory. Do they want me to go back to Word? Idiots.

The argument is about equal to removing rosetta from Lion. You either like it or you don't. Everyone will have their opinion.

 

[theelysium]

If duplicate isn't saving your location preferences at the moment, it surely will in the future. Just right some nice feedback to Apple saying you'd like to get this feature in a future update to Lion. Writing to them hissing like an angry 4 old and threatening to go back to SL won't do anything. Do you think they care? They won't...Lion isn't without it's faults, but IMHO, my whole computer using experience has been improved by this piece of Software and it's not like I'm a brainless teen chewing up every piece of glitter and nice graphics that Apple throws at me: I like to get my work done on a stable, time-efficient and, even better, visually appealing (and not blinding blinging...W7...) operating system. Lion does that for me.

Don't assume, because people are angry at at change ether are acting like children to Apple. I know how to submit a feedback.

The duplicate feature does not "save as" it's completely not the same thing. It's another feature created to replace "save as" that has no shortcut and hinders workflow.

 

[theelysium]

The argument is about equal to removing rosetta from Lion. You either like it or you don't. Everyone will have their opinion.

There is a difference between opinion and a basic function to allow normal computer users to operate the computer in a way that allows them to complete there work.

I like the auto save I think it's great. Duplicate works just nice if I want to duplicate something, but when I'm done with my work I want to save as and create a whole new document without jumping through autosave hoops.

 

[RJCP]

Don't assume, because people are angry at at change ether are acting like children to Apple. I know how to submit a feedback.

The duplicate feature does not "save as" it's completely not the same thing. It's another feature created to replace "save as" that has no shortcut and hinders workflow.

Don't take it personally. I'm just amused by people saying they'll revert to SL because they can't "save as". Creating a copy of your document in Finder and storing it where you want takes you as much time as "save as" does: one click to access the Finder, editing the name of the file and browsing the Finder to place it where you want it.

It all boils down to what you prefer: for the type of work I do, Version is like Air Conditioning in the Sahara and AutoSave is just reassuring and hands down practical.

 

[tkermit]

Conceptually, "Duplicating" and then saving makes a lot more sense than modifying an exiting document to later save it under a different name and have the original remain unmodified. It's also safer, because you don't run the risk of accidentally overwriting the original.

 

[mrapplegate]

I'm done with the thread. We can go back and forth forever. I feel everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is what it is. Apple can hear your feedback and choose to change it or keep it.

 

[Jus11]

There is a difference between opinion and a basic function to allow normal computer users to operate the computer in a way that allows them to complete there work.

I like the auto save I think it's great. Duplicate works just nice if I want to duplicate something, but when I'm done with my work I want to save as and create a whole new document without jumping through autosave hoops.

Exactly.

 

[Etnies419]

There is a difference between opinion and a basic function to allow normal computer users to operate the computer in a way that allows them to complete there work.

I like the auto save I think it's great. Duplicate works just nice if I want to duplicate something, but when I'm done with my work I want to save as and create a whole new document without jumping through autosave hoops.

I don't think you're fully understanding the paradigm shift Apple is moving towards. They want to get rid of the concept of saving anything. While your current workflow utilizes the Save As function, I don't think it would hurt to try changing your workflow to fit this. It may wind up being quicker for you in time.

 

[Saturn1217]

So happy to find this thread

Not having 'Save as' was killing me too! And I thought I was the only one.

When you are actually creating lots of files, using them as templates and particularly when you need to save these files in many different locations, Save as is needed and the duplicate function is not as good. Also it is very confusing because apps that aren't update don't work the same way as preview etc but also lose the Save as shortcut (aka Office 2008). Also I just know personally that I won't use autosave very much. It would be really confusing for my workflow to figure out which changes I wanted and which ones I didn't. I'd rather just have one version (and yes I know you can lock the file). I would be so happy if I could just turn this and the resume windows thing off permanently.

I just sent apple feedback but I have little hope this will get fixed.

Can someone PLEASE help me figure out how to make a keyboard shortcut for Duplicate or export? I can't find this in system preferences under keyboard shortcuts. I think if I could use Export with a shortcut that might be a good workaround for this 'feature'

Edit: Nevermind the last part. Just figured it out. Never realized you could add more things to the keyboard shortcut list

 

[tkermit]

it is very confusing because apps that aren't update don't work the same way as preview etc but also lose the Save as shortcut (aka Office 2008).

I can't reproduce that, neither on Office 2008 nor iWork 08. Older apps seem to retain their "Save as..." functionality

EDIT: Oh, you're talking about the shortcut? iWork still has one - did Office have one before?

 

[Saturn1217]

I can't reproduce that, neither on Office 2008 nor iWork 08. Older apps seem to retain their "Save as..." functionality

EDIT: Oh, you're talking about the shortcut? iWork still has one - did Office have one before?

Yes I was referring to the Command+shift+S shortcut in Word 2008 which was gone in Lion. But this is very easy to fix for Office 2008 so it is not that much of a problem.

 

[theelysium]

The argument is about equal to removing rosetta from Lion. You either like it or you don't. Everyone will have their opinion.

I don't think you're fully understanding the paradigm shift Apple is moving towards. They want to get rid of the concept of saving anything. While your current workflow utilizes the Save As function, I don't think it would hurt to try changing your workflow to fit this. It may wind up being quicker for you in time.

I fully get it.

You are looking at Saving As as a save feature, but it is more like creating a new document from within your current document.

So, while we are in their new ecosystem we can't create new documents from within a current document? It does not make sense.

 

[MikeProcter]

For my work I take quite a lot of photos, then open them in Preview then use save as and reduce the size of the photo to quite often the minimum quality which is what my work providers want and paste into a word doc. If I don't i'll end up with a document that can be 50MB in size and I can't then email it.

How can I now do this without creating another photo which I do not want.?

 

[gnagy]

For my work I take quite a lot of photos, then open them in Preview then use save as and reduce the size of the photo to quite often the minimum quality which is what my work providers want and paste into a word doc. If I don't i'll end up with a document that can be 50MB in size and I can't then email it.

How can I now do this without creating another photo which I do not want.?

When you were clicking on "save as" you were actually creating another photo. It's the same as clicking on "duplicate" on the current version.

 

[2499723]

I really miss 'save as'. Duplicate is not the same and takes about three extra steps to save a 'duplicate' of a file in the same location as the file you're working on. Sometimes I don't want to see a second copy of the item I'm using when all I want to do is save that file with a different name. As others have said on this site, 'save as' was not necessarily used for the purpose of backing up, like 'versions' and 'duplicate' seem to assume. It was used to make an alternative file that you could edit in different ways.

Sometimes it's nice to have a template for something that you can go in and add different information to later. An example I can think of would be like...creating awards for school children. Sometimes, all you want to do is change the name of the child on the award and then save to a different file name. 'Duplicate' makes this process tedious, not to mention there does not seem to be a quick hotkey combination to do so.

 

[MikeProcter]

When you were clicking on "save as" you were actually creating another photo. It's the same as clicking on "duplicate" on the current version.

Yes I know, but I didn't change the file name and overwrote the previous file.

 

[astrorider]

if you create a duplicate it pops it up in front of you which is fine, but then you have to save a version and every time you have to go through the finder and select the damn folder you want. it does not remember the last folder you saved in. So irritating. Try it yourself. It's not the same as save as.

When it asks for a location to duplicate to, it presents a dialog box right? Can you just drag and drop from a finder window into your dialog box, so you don't have to drill through the folders of your dialog box each time? Just wondering if you knew about that shortcut, assuming it's still present in Lion (I'm still on SL).

 

[AdeFowler]

I'm not using Lion yet, but in Snow Leopard I've got into the habit of using Duplicate File (Command D) in the Finder, more than I use Save As in an app. To me it somehow feels safer, daft I know. I will occasionally miss Save As though.

 

[yojitani]

Just logged in after quite a long time to commiserate with the OP. It's annoying for me as well and messes up my workflow.

I'm a bit baffled by some comments in this thread about "embracing the future." The future is documents without a 'save as' function? Really?