How do I save a document without it eliminating a previous document?

Hi Jeff,

Adding to Peggy's response…

You can also locate the document in Finder, select it, then press command-D to create a duplicate of the current document.

Here are the results of a brief test I did. The front document is the duplicate of the original, unchanged from the state it was in when duplicated.

One difference between the two methods is that when you Save as… the version "saved as" is the one that remains open in Pages (with the name assigned to it by you—in this case, the original name with a B added).

Regards,

barry

Peter writes:

"Old behaviour

Open named document > Save As > Document is now Saved as new name, with 2 documents saved"

I'm afraid your memory of the 'old behaviour' is filtering out the lumps, Peter.

Opening an existing document in Pages 4.3 and OS X 10.4, I observe this Old Behaviour:

Open named document (by, for example, double clicking document's icon in Finder)

Pages is launched and opens the named document.

> (Choose) Save As

Save (as) dialogue is opened displaying

• file name, with name part selected and extension unselected and
• Location from which file was opened showing on a pop-up menu bar

> Press return or click Save button

Alert opens to ask "name.pages" already exists. Do you want to replace it?
A file or folder with the same name already exists in (save location). Replacing it will overwrite its current contents.
Cancel Replace

> Document is now Saved as new name, with 2 documents saved"

Clicking Replace or pressing return at this point will save a new copy of the document with the same name as the previous copy, and overwrite the previous copy.

(Actual) Old Procedure:

• Open existing file.
• Choose Save as from File menu (or using then current keystroke shortcut).
• Change filename OR change save location (or both).
• Click Save OR press return.

Result:

You will now have two copies of the file.

If you changed the Save Location, but did not change the name, the files will be in different locations, but will both have the same name

If you edited the name AND changed the Save Location, the original will be in the original location AND will have the original name; the copy will be in another location AND will have a different name.

The copy will be open in Pages, and subsequent Saves will save updated versions of that copy in the location where that copy was saved.

New Behaviour

As you can see the old behaviour was desparately difficult, involved and fraught with possiblities of error, unlike the new behaviour

No more desperately difficult than the Old procedure, with one exception: the requirement to press and hold the Option key to show and select Save As in the File menu, or to add Option to the Shift-command-S keystroke combination to change it from Duplicate to Save As…

Regards,

Barry

Jeff

You didn't create a new different document, what you did was rename your existing document.

Apple makes you now go through the cumbersome process of duplicating your existing document to then have to rename it to get what was the much simpler Save As... feature of previous versions of macOS.

I have pages 7.3 on high Sierra

Under the File menu I have:

Save

Duplicate

Revert To

If I hold down the Option button while looking at the file menu I see:

Save

Save as...

Revert To

So you could just hit Option+Shift+Command+S to Save As from the keyboard.

For me choosing Save As results in a dialog asking where to save the document. If I change the name, then save, the CURRENT (frontmost, open) document becomes the newly Saved As one. When I look at the location where it was save there are indeed TWO copies of the document so Save As seems to function correctly (as expected). It really means "Save a copy as..."

Oddly, Shift+Command+S is now Duplicate (this key combo was for decades Save As...) and there's a Rename option in the File menu as well now.

You can now click on the name of the document at the top of the Pages document window and rename it there and if you change it's "Where" drop down it will MOVE the document there.

I don't understand why Save As... (hold option while selecting the File menu) doesn't do what you want. My more detailed post is below this post. You can hit Option+Shift+Command+S from the keyboard to do the same thing.

"Rename" is just that, it only renames the currently open file. It does not duplicate it. To make a copy of the file use Save As...

Open file #3918, then select Save As... then name this new to be saved document #4018 and you'll have both documents that way.

Save As... is really "Save A Copy As..." which seems to be exactly what you're asking how to do.

Pages (and many macOS applications) have a Revert To... function as well. Previous versions of the current document are stored there automatically.

Old behaviour

Open named document > Save As > Document is now Saved as new name, with 2 documents saved

New Behaviour

Open named document > try not to change anything, even though Pages might anyway > google question to find out where invisible UI is > hold down option key > Save As > Document is now Saved as name, with 2 documents saved and 2 documents open > carefully close the document you don't want and try not to get it wrong if there are several documents open

As you can see the old behaviour was desparately difficult, involved and fraught with possiblities of error, unlike the new behaviour!

Barry

My internal macOS on this Mac is Snow Leopard. I have not forgotten anything.

The problem is that the new behaviour does not eliminate the problem of preventing changes to existing documents, BUT expects people to work backwards to their normal mode of work.

People make changes THEN want to save them as a change, not anticipate they will make changes that they haven't made yet, and prep a new file just for that.

Worse is that the software makes unseen changes to the file that you did NOT want to change eg you opened up a Pages '09 document in Pages 5, 6 or 7, or simply opened a document and made an inadvertent change in the UI that registered as a change, and now your old document is a new version, without you knowing, even before you have had the chance to do a Save As...

[Edited by Host]

Hold down the option/alt key while selecting the File menu & "Save" will change to "Save As…"

Shift + Command + S is now Duplicate, it'll ask you to name it and save a copy.

I think Shift + Command + S was Save As... in previous OS's

Couldn't be simpler.

That is what I was telling you.

You can also Get Info on a document and tick "Stationary Pad" to make a new document each time you open/change it.