Windows 10: Locating saved files

Windows 10 seems to have a mind of its own when I save files. I use "Save as"the first time and expect it to continue saving to the same location that I specified initially. But no, click on "Save" and it saves it in any one of a number of places so I end up with several versions of the same file in different places on the computer, on the external drive and in the cloud. How do I stop this and have it save to the location I nominate?
Thanks.

:)

 

Saving files - best location

Thanks Bulldog for such a speedy response. The information was very helpful. I'll proceed as suggested. Cheers Richard.

 

Saving files - best location

What a fabulous question.

You can continue to save your files to external storage, or you can save them to the internal drive. Internal storage will give you faster access to your work; external storage can be kept separate from the computer in case of disaster.

Here's what many people do: Save your documents to internal storage and back them up to external storage. Best of both worlds. I backup daily, sometimes more often than that.

For its part, Microsoft thinks everyone should save their work to online storage. By coincidence, Microsoft offers OneDrive online storage. How convenient.

A good strategy is to save your work to a separate partition on your internal hard disk (or to a separate physical hard disk.) The idea is that if you ever have to refresh or reset or reinstall Windows, or if you ever need to restore an image, if you're
familiar with that, you won't affect your personal data.

Factoid: Libraries were all the rage in Windows 8. Microsoft wanted everyone to save their work to a Library. For Windows 10 Microsoft changed their mind and decided everyone should save their work to OneDrive. Now they don't talk about Libraries any more
and they're hidden by default. Marketing vs. technology

 

Save should always save to the designated downloads folder. You can always click on quick access in file explorer which shows the last used files. I use this all the time as its so quick.

 

It will depend also on which program you're running when you save your document. Office may behave differently to, say Firefox in this respect.

I find having extra buttons on my title bars really handy so I've consistent access to favourite and recent folders for example. (That's a 3rd party program, Actual Window Manager- other such programs exist).

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I have the problem with Office. Quick Access in File Explorer apparently shows the last used file so perhaps that's another simple way of finding the most up to date version. But it doesn't explain why the software can choose where to save something. I end up with files updated at different times saved all over the place.

 

Example:
WPS Writer (was Kingsoft) - if I save a file to folder T1, then close & launch Writer, and create a new doct, its Save As offers folder T1.
Same with Polyedit (a Wordpad+ tabbed light replacement).

If I then launch Wordpad, and try Save As, it offers Documents. I save to T1, and continue as above. On the second attempt, it again offers Documents, not T1.

However, having the title bar buttons makes it easy:




Many programs behave thus: if you open a document in a folder, you will also first save to the same folder.

The issue is how the program is designed- whether it always remembers the last used location (saved to the registry e.g.) or whether it always starts from a default location.

I don't recall ever seeing any option or preference related to this.

 

Thanks. I have been using MS Word and Excel pretty much since they first emerged and I have never had this problem until now. Once the initial destination was selected with the Save As command, all future saves overwrote (i.e. updated) the previous version unless the Save As option was used and a different destination chosen. I don't use any of the programs you mention. I am using MS Office, predominantly Word and Excel. Those are the programs I need help with. I also have far more file folders and sub-folders than I could create buttons for. Thanks anyway. V

 

The recent button shows a big list of recent items as a drop-down (I didn't want to include more as my name was shown)

The favourites button likewise - it's not one per button!

Works for universal apps too.

 

Recent versions of Office are a real pain like that.

It doesn't present you the usual "save as" dialog as every single other program in Windows but rather some weird concoction all of its own. I find it particularly confusing saving to OneDrive as it isn't clear if it is saving first to my OneDrive directory on my disk:

C:\Users\Hali\OneDrive\Documents\Personal\Accounts\Accounts.xls

to be synched later (which shows up in quick access) or uploaded direct to the cloud with a random path like:

Sign in to your Microsoft account

to be synched back down to my PC (which doesn't show up in quick access).

I guess people who use Office a lot get used to it but for me it is confusing as anything.

As I don't use Office that much I tend to move my document to desktop, edit it and then move it back where I want it. Perhaps there is a better way...

 

Dalchina:

When I go to save a word file, I don't get anything like what you show, which is:





In my case, on choosing File, Save I am taken to a big square white window with a blue column on the left, labelled "Save As", with two columns. The left one offers Computer and Add a Place. The right one offers Computer: Recent Folders, followed by a list of recent folders, and a button "Browse" at the bottom.

1. How can I get what you see (attachment)? and then:

2. How can I set up your several buttons offering tailor-made folders?

Thanks.

 

Hi, just for clarity, that screenshot's Wordpad, and as you can see from my specs, (click 'My computer') I'm running the Anniversary edition.

I think perhaps what you are looking at is a late version of MS Word.

My #3:

Additional Title Buttons - Actual Window Manager - Actual Tools

The product is on all-embracing all-singing program for $49-95 (or free with Trialpay) or you can get one of many subsets of the total feature set for around $20 - example:



Feature Comparison Chart - Products Catalog - Actual Tools

Trialpay:
2017 Full catalog of TrialPay Software (get full version software for free) | 24Hsoftware.com

(E.g. I did a month's trial of a TV service and got the program free .. no payment required).

There are other (often older, not maintained) programs that attempt something like this in different ways - e.g. Listary, which has a quite different focus and feature set- but this is much the most functional.

I find having a 'pin on top' option very handy too.

To Win 7 - and I still used it in 8, the retired FileBox eXtender adopted a similar approach.

 

Thanks, Dalchina. Cheers, V

 

Sounds like I am not the only one with this "problem". I cannot believe the Office programmers made it so complicated. There must be a better way.