Save as in TextEdit?

This new "feature" is terribly frustrating. I've spent half an hour trying to figure out where my textedit file is, and how to save it somewhere else. I don't want to duplicate it! Terrible design. I work with computers for a living and I'm very knowledgeable. I can't imagine an ordinary user trying to understand this and figure it out, it's just a horrible change.

What do mean you don't want to duplicate it? That's what Save As does -- it saves a duplicate. The Duplicate command simply opens the copy as a new document instead of saving it immediately. If you are looking for the Save As command, then you most certainly do want to duplicate it.

Now that I think about it, you are right - I do want to duplicate the file. But it seems tedious. After duplicating only then I can click save and it will ask me where I want to save it. Seems as though they could have both the duplicate and save as options. The whole bloody ordeal could have been avoided if I could choose "new text file" from a context menu.

What do mean you don't want to duplicate it? That's what Save As does -- it saves a duplicate.

Not exactly. That's what long time users hate about Lion. Duplicate only works like Save As if you do the duplicate immediately upon opening a file. What Save As has always done differently is that you can create a Save As file at any time to apply all changes you've made up to that point to the new file only. The original is automatically closed without any of your changes applied to it.

Duplicate does not do that. If you duplicate part way into a project, Lion saves both files with the same changes to that point, defeating the whole purpose of branching off to a new file without having to obnoxiously return to the original file to revert it back to its previous state.

But you don't have to click Save. Just do whatever editing you want to do then close the document. It will ask then where to put it, just as it always has for a new document. Autosave means you never have to manually save a document. With Autosave application, a manual Save is always optional.

Old way: Edit; Save As; Name the new document; Close.

New way: Duplicate; Edit; Close; Name the document.

It's no more complicated, just a different order of steps. But the new way is much safer since you can't accidentally destroy a document. You can use Versions to revert if you neglect to make a duplicate. I might add that this works even better under Mountain Lion.

What is so hard about incorporating auto save and leaving everything else the same so that I can do a "save as" and also find the dang document? I don't want a version. I want what I want when I want it. It's my computer for crying out loud. I don't have time to learn a whole new pathway that is completely unintuitive and requires me to google each step to see how it is done. I have a paper to write. Have we reached a majority of dissatified customers yet?

Thanks for this advice - very helpful. I've dug up a Snow Leopard copy and it works. Now, to make it the default progam...

I'm hesitant to delete TextEdit in Lion (actually Mountain Lion, which I have), because I don't know what software update will do.

The problem is, the OS won't accept the Snow Leopard version as the new default program for .rtf's; when I make the change (Change All in Get Info), it resets the file back to the current TextEdit version. Obviously, choosing "Open With" every time is a headache - I use TextEdit dozens of times a day on dozens of files.

I've tried using third-party software to set the default program (Rubicode), but the same issue arises; when I select Snow Leopard's TextEdit, it switches immediately to the newest version. It seems the OS regards the two as somehow the same?

Any advice on getting my computer to default to the Snow Leopard version? Can I somehow hack my Snow Leopard version into thinking it is not TextEdit at all, but a new and distinct program? (I assume this would cause the OS to regard it, like MS Word, as a different program from the new TextEdit and allow the default setting to stick)

Please no comments on getting with the times or whatever. In two years these ridiculous innovations will be replaced by some other system no one asked for.

Actually, I was wrong. It does now open in the old version as a default. Happy days.

I'm hesitant to delete TextEdit in Lion (actually Mountain Lion, which I have), because I don't know what software update will do.

If there are any further updates to Lion, and it involves a fix to TextEdit, what the update will do is recreate an item named TextEdit in the Applications folder. Because the app package will only contain the updated components, it will be nonfunctional. Just put it in the trash again.

The problem is, the OS won't accept the Snow Leopard version as the new default program for .rtf's; when I make the change (Change All in Get Info), it resets the file back to the current TextEdit version.

No need to do that (as you already discovered). Despite being in your user account, with the Lion version of TextEdit gone, the OS automatically switches to the Snow Leopard version in your user account as the default for such files.

Yes, the lack of Save As in Text Edit is reeeally annoying. It has been doing my head in completely ever since I bought this mac 2 years ago. I find it so irritating that I actually wanted to find a new simple text editing program from a third party.

(Kappy you come across as rather annoying and arrogan btw)

The way I see it - 'Duplicate' does the same as Save As, except it doesn't save the new version..... hmmm interesting.

Oh and the other thing 'Duplicate' does - it it leaves the old file open - why exactly anyone would want 2 versions of the same file open at once is a mystery to me - maybe Kappy can explain why this is useful?

A terrible design descision. Throw away 10 years of useful functionality and confuse the **** out of everyone. Sounds like something Microsoft would do!

I too have been using mac since the mid 80s and agree with Scott that the lack of Save As command is absurd. It both adds an extra step and doesn't have a keyboard command. As well, duplicate was already in old versions of the OS (using 'stationary pads' or simply using the duplicate command in the Finder).

Somebody at Apple should admit that a bad decison has been made and fix it. I'm sure that many loyal Mac users such as myself don't really want to go mucking about in the system to make things work as they should. Why not make a software update which replaces all affected Apple programs in OS 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9? Why not simply give us back a keyboard command (and menu item) for the Save As function???? This doesn't mean you have to get rid of your Time-Machine-Friendly Duplicate and Save Version functions - mature users can easily ignore those menu items.

I've never had to enter terminal mode ... but I like the Idea of having the Save As command back. Assuming Apple won't make a speedy reply and post the software 'update' requested above - could you, or some other patient soul, detail the steps more clearly for the "terminal hack"? thanks

Apple did give users a way to make OS X behave like Snow Leopard or earlier (after MUCH complaining by a LOT of people about the changes in Lion), but you need to be running Mountain Lion or later to do it.

See here.

For the record I'm using OSX 10.9.3 on a Mac Mini.

I've tried changing the font via "New way: Duplicate; Edit; Close; Name the document" and I simply end up with another copy of exactly the same document with no change of font style. I even tried altering the wording of the text and then changed the font and still it wouldn't save the font change.

All the people complaining in this thread appear to be intelligent, reasonable Apple users. If we're all having problems then I would respectfully suggest that there is a fundamental flaw in TextEdit and the fault lies with Apple.

I want to strongly support those who believe that the "save as" option in TextEdit was 'idiotic' to have deleted in 2012.

I also want to state, for the record, that options to save things in the cloud, rather than default to your device, are not

very smart. If you read the news, or look at deleted celebrity photos in the past week, you will understand why.

Finally, I want to reiterate to Apple Employees that W. Edward Deming understood a great deal about engineering

and how to make products -- and that Apple ought not dismiss objections of experienced users without deep

thought as to future ramifications.

Although Apple has exceeded expectations recently, its future success, especially if one thoroughly reads

this thread, is not assured.

Bert Gold, Ph.D., FACMG

Frederick, Maryland

(60 years old; Using Computers since 1969-70; Apples since it began).

I'm using Mavericks and "Save As" appears in the File menu when you hold down the alt key (⌥). It replaces the "Duplicate" option. Or you can use the keyboard shortcut: alt-shift-command-S (⌥ ⇧ ⌘ S)