Numbers will only let me "save as" one time...

Are you on OSX 10.5.8 or 10.8.5? If you are running Mountain Lion (10.8.5) you should be able to hold down the option key and and choose Save as ... from the File menu and choose where you want to save another copy from the Where... dropdown.

SG

Hi trailkng,

Apple removed Save as... from the file menus in Lion (v10.7.x), replacing it with Duplicate. There is a long discussion (with more than a little ranting) on the issue in these discussions, and I'm sure there was a great deal of feedback submitted to Apple, as Save as... was back in Mountain Lion (v10.8.x)—although you needed to use the Option key in order to see it on the menu.

Your easiest method of making a second copy of the file in a different location might be to locate the file in Finder, Select it, Press command-D to Duplicate the file, then drag the duplicate to the new location.

Someone more experienced with Lion may offer a different (and better) soution. I delayed purchase of a replacement for my iBook (running Tiger) until Mountain Lion was available, so I skipped by Lion entirely.

Regards,

Barry

If the document was originally stored in iCloud then to locate it in the Finder to duplicate it using command-D you'll have to venture into the Library.

I'm hazy now on whether Lion (v10.7x) shows Library as a destination in the Go menu in Finder. If it doesn't, try holding down the option key while in the Go menu and the Library pick should appear.

On my machine (v10.8x) within Library you then navigate down to a Mobile Documents folder and within that folder you see com~apple~Numbers. The Numbers documents are in a Documents subfolder there.

I think the location was the same or similar in Lion.

SG

trailking wrote:

... So if I want to save the same document to a different location, that doesn't appear to be an option. How can I, for example, save to my hard drive if I've already saved to the cloud.

TK,

I also don't remember what happens on 10.7.x, but here is what you could do with Mountain Lion...

First, your document is stored on your HD already, so that you can work offline. I mention that in case you think you can't work unless you are on-line.

If you want to save a separate copy for backup reasons, a very good idea, my suggeston would be to simply click on the Filename at the top of the Numbers window and choose Duplicate. You will be presented with a new copy of the document, with the word "copy" appended to the old document name, and it will be selected and waiting for you to customize the name. I suggest that you replace "copy" with "v1" or such to denote a separate version. Next, click on the filename again and choose "Move to...". In "Move to...", choose the alternate storage location of your choice on your HD.

Jerry

Jerry's method for making new versions by clicking the Filename at the top is nice; now I understand a little better why Apple tried to mess with Save As...

Choosing the Move to iCloud... option from the Filename will move the document to the right place in the Library, saving a trip to the Finder. After a document is placed in the right folder in the Library, it gets whisked up into the cloud and synced it to other devices connected to that iCloud account. Then a change to the document on any of the connected devices is synced to the other devices, keeping them all updated to the "latest version."

In my experience, with Numbers that syncing of the latest version across machines works really well...

... except for when it doesn't, such as during the five or so days after the iOS 7 update when iCloud mysteriously locked out some users, including me.

In the end all my documents reappeared out of the ether as mysteriously as they disappeared. But now I'm more careful to make reasonably frequent duplicates of really important stuff. The duplicates become quickly outdated, but they are nice to have when there are glitches up in the cloud.

In Mountain Lion (I think it's the same in Lion) to move a document to the cloud just click the document name at the top center as Jerry explained and you should see a dropdown list. Pick "Move to iCloud...". That's pretty much all there is to it.

If that doesn't work (or doesn't exist in Lion) try option-Go in Finder, choose Library, and within the Library navigate to Mobile Documents, and find the Documents folder under "com~apple~Numbers." Copy the file into there and iCloud will take it from there.

SG

trailking wrote:

Thanks. I'm a little concerned about making a duplicate because I'm afraid I'll make changes to one version and not update the other one. I'm not sure about having two versions floating around out there. Any suggestions regarding keeping all versions updated would be appreciated.

It may not have been clear to me what you were asking for in your original question. I thought you wanted to save a copy. That is, after all, what Save As is about. Then you have two copies "floating around". Duplicate is just another approach. There is a subtle difference with Duplicate though. As you work with a document, you are automatically creating "versions" that you can revert to later if you wish. Sometimes you want a clean, flat, document without the versions data. You do that with Duplicate. Duplicate saves only the current state, not the previous versions.

Jerry

Jerrold Green1 wrote:

Duplicate is just another approach. There is a subtle difference with Duplicate though. As you work with a document, you are automatically creating "versions" that you can revert to later if you wish.

Jerry, until seeing your post here I didn't understand the automatic "versions" thing, which many apps I use don't seem to support. In Numbers I see that Browse All Versions... in the Document Title dropdown pulls up a "mini Time Machine." Pretty handy, I guess, especially for documents in iCloud. Thanks for explaining the distinction between those automatically saved versions and Duplicate. In Mountain Lion "Save As..." seems to do basically the same thing as Duplicate, i.e. allows renaming and at the same time strips out the previous versions. Thanks, SG

SG,

You're welcome. I'm not a fanboy, but I really don't understand the fuss about the change. I think we got more than we gave up. I think it was wise to restore the Save As, no matter how it works, just to quell the uprising.

Jerry