In this section I will show you how to save a TEXT File using the built-in Text Editor (program) called Notepad. You do not necessarily need to use Notepad, as the SAVE method used in this section is a common save method used throughout computer software, so this section applies to Saving A File generally. However, saying this. Stick with using Notepad for the examples in this section.

Before you can save your content (i.e. Text) as a file you first need to open an application (i.e. Notepad) that can create your content and then save it for you as a file. In this case you need to open (execute/launch) Notepad using the following steps, create some text and then allow Notepad to save that text as a TEXT File. So begin by clicking on the START Menu button, using the left mouse button, to reveal the START Menu (Fig 1.1).

Fig 1.1  Left click on the START Menu button to reveal the START Menu




Fig 1.2  The START Menu - Click on, or hover over, ALL PROGRAMS to display the Programs List.




Fig 1.3  The Programs List - Move the mouse pointer upwards until it is hovering over the ACCESSORIES folder

When the START Menu appears either click on, or hover over, ALL PROGRAMS (Fig 1.2 above) to clear the Pinned-To/Recently Used list of programs and display the Programs List instead (Fig 1.3 above). The programs list is made up of commonly installed/used folders and files (see the Start Menu section for more information).

With the Start Menu already showing the All Programs programs list (Fig 1.3 above), and the mouse pointer hovering over BACK, start moving the mouse pointer upwards until it reaches the folder (yellow icon) called ACCESSORIES (Fig 1.3 above). As you do this each folder in turn will become highlighted as the mouse pointer hovers over it, but only until you hover to the next folder and then finally reach the Accessories folder. When you reach the Accessories folder simply click on it to reveal what programs (files), and sub-folders if any, there are inside it (below).

Fig 1.4  Inside the ACCESSORIES folder - Click on the Notepad menu-item to continue

After clicking on the Accessories folder the programs, and any sub-folders, inside it are revealed (Fig 1.4 above). In this example the programs inside the Accessories folder go from Calculator down to Wordpad (the sixth program down is Notepad). And the sub-folders inside the Accessories folder go from Ease Of Access down to Tablet PC.

With the Accessories folder now open the next thing to do is move the mouse pointer, six items downwards, until it is hovering over Notepad (Fig 1.4 above). At this point keep the mouse pointer still, whilst over Notepad, and then click the left mouse button to execute (open/launch) the program (text editor) called Notepad (below). From there you can start typing something into its editing/typing area (Fig 1.6).

Fig 1.5  The program (text editor) called Notepad has been launched (executed/run)




Fig 1.6  Type some text into the editing/typing area of Notepad

To save what you have typed as a TEXT File you need to click on notepad's FILE menu, highlight the SAVE AS menu-item and then click on it.

Fig 1.7  Click on the FILE menu, highlight the SAVE AS menu-item and then click on it to continue

SAVE AS means "Save As WHAT?". In this case the WHAT will be a Text File with the file name Test. The file will have the .txt file extension attached to it to denote the file is indeed a text file and not a picture file for example. Selecting (clicking on) the SAVE AS menu-item brings up a File Requester that you fill in with details about the file you want to save. Details such as; Which folder you want to save the file in to. What the file should be called and so on.

Fig 1.8  The SAVE AS File Requester - Click on the SAVE button to save your words as a Text (.txt) file.

To save the words you have just typed as a TEXT File you first need to fill in the File name edit box, by clicking inside it and then typing a file name (such as Test). When you first use the SAVE AS file requester this edit box will just have the file extension .txt displayed inside it. So you have the choice of typing a file name only or editing .txt to make filename.txt (Test.txt) - It does not matter which you do because even if you clear this edit box and then type your file name Notepad will add the file extension .txt later, when you actually click on the SAVE button.

The File name edit box also doubles up as a Drop-Down menu of previously saved file names, and more precisely names of files that may or may not exist now - If no file names are available the list will be displayed as empty. The list, if available, is for cases whereby you want to overwrite an existing file (perhaps because you want to update it and/or just want to use its name again).

To use the Drop-Down menu simply click on its Down-Arrow button, located at the right-end of the edit box, and then click on one the file names in the list of previous file names - You will need to have the Save as type Drop-Down menu set to All Files (*.*) in order to see the previous file names, if any, but you can then set Save As Type back to Text Documents (*.txt) again in order to save your file as a Text file (see Fig 1.10 below). Saying this, the file will be saved as a Text (.txt) file regardless of the Save As Type setting. In Fig 1.9 I have highlighted (hovered over) the file name F:\Research Notes.txt, which if clicked on would fill the file name edit box with the wording (file name) F:\Research Notes.txt. If I then clicked on the SAVE button I would be saving the current words inside Notepad as a text file called Research Notes.txt, which would be stored (saved) inside my Flash Drive (F:) main folder, overwriting any existing text file called Research Notes.txt on my flash drive (f:) main folder.

Fig 1.9  You can overwrite an existing file.  F:\ is my Flash Drive's main folder and Research Notes.txt is the TEXT File's name.

When you have filled in the file name edit box you must then make sure the Save as type Drop-Down menu has the file extension Text Documents (*.txt) selected (below). This will be selected as default (normal) when using Notepad, but if you use the All Files (*.*) option (as described above) you should select Text Documents (.txt) again before clicking on the SAVE button to actually save your wording (i.e. Letter) as a text file (Fig 1.8 above).

Fig 1.10  Notepad SAVE AS - Save the current wording inside Notepad as a TEXT (.txt) file (also known as a TEXT Document)

If you were using Wordpad (ACCESSORIES - Wordpad) instead of Notepad you simply save the current wording inside Wordpad by selecting its SAVE AS menu and then clicking on the PLAIN TEXT DOCUMENT menu-item.

Fig 1.11  Wordpad SAVE AS - Save the current wording inside Wordpad as a TEXT (.txt) file (also known as a TEXT Document)

Do not worry about the Encoding Drop-Down menu at the bottom of the SAVE AS file requester (Fig 1.8 above). It should have ANSI selected, but if it does not (very unlikely) just click on its Down-Arrow button and then select (click on) ANSI.

Now that you know how to save the current wording within Notepad as a TEXT (Text Documents) file, called Test (file name extension .txt), that is stored (saved) inside the current folder (i.e. inside the DOCUMENTS folder) you may want to save that text file, and any future text file, inside another folder. At the moment all text files will be saved inside the DOCUMENTS folder, which is a sub-folder inside the UserName (i.e. Yoingco) folder. To change the folder that is currently being used for saving, text, files (by the SAVE AS file requester) you need to know how to navigate to another folder. And the following examples show the three main ways of folder, SAVE AS file requester, navigation.

Fig 1.12  Click on the Side-Arrow button of a folder to see its sub-folder(s) or main folder




Fig 1.13  Click on a folder (i.e. on the MUSIC folder) inside the Navigation Pane to go inside that folder




Fig 1.14  Double click on a folder, or select it and then click on the OPEN button, to get inside that folder.

Fig 1.12 above shows that I have clicked on the Side-Arrow button of the LIBRARIES folder to reveal a menu of sub-folders (Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos). The Side-Arrow button then pointed downwards, as a Down-Arrow button, before I then selected (clicked on) the Music folder (menu-item). From there I would of clicked on the SAVE button, therefore saving the Test.txt text file inside that Music folder.

Fig 1.13 above shows that I have clicked on the Music folder (shortcut link) within the Navigation Pane on the left-hand-side of the SAVE AS file requester. From there I would of clicked on the SAVE button, therefore saving the Test.txt text file inside that Music folder.

Fig 1.14 above shows that I have clicked on a folder called Research, which I created by clicking on the NEW FOLDER button at the top of the SAVE AS file requester. From there I would of clicked on the OPEN button to open that Research folder - I also had the option of just double clicking on that Research folder in order to open it. Either way, once inside that folder I would of clicked on the SAVE button to save the Test.txt text file inside that Research folder.

So navigating the SAVE AS File Requester is all about selecting a folder/sub-folder from either its Path Name (Fig 1.12), from the Navigation Pane (Fig 1.13) or by double clicking on the folder/sub-folder itself (Fig 1.14). When you are happy with the current settings of File name, Save as type, Encoding and the current save folder (inside the Address Bar) - i.e. Music or Documents) click on the SAVE button to save the text file. In Fig 1.8 the text file would be saved into the Documents folder and in the examples just shown the text file would be saved into the Music folder. If you wanted to save into a sub-folder of the Music folder for example (i.e. Classical, Jazz or Rock) you would simply navigate to that sub-folder in the same way as shown in the last examples (i.e. once inside Music you could then double click on the Classical sub-folder, if it exists of course).

Once you have saved the file you may want to update it at a later stage. If so open the file (see the How To Open A File section), make your changes and then save the file by choosing the SAVE menu-item from notepad's FILE menu. Clicking on the SAVE menu-item means you want to save the opened file in the same place with the same file name, so you do not have to fill in the SAVE AS file requester again. This is the difference between SAVE and SAVE AS only. SAVE AS generally means you want to save the file as something (i.e. as a text file or picture file), usually with a different file name, either in the same place or in a different place.

You can use SAVE AS like SAVE, if you want to use the File Requester because you are unsure if a file exists for example, but generally you use SAVE and SAVE AS for the purposes described above.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.