Ubuntu

What is the difference between Save as and Save a Copy?

Asked by tdn

I have noticed that many applications feature two similar actions in the File menu: "Save as" and "Save a copy".
Okular is one of these programs. If I download and open a PDF in Okular, I can choose to Save as or to Save a copy. To me it seems that they do exactly the same. What is the semantic difference?

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Thomas Krüger
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arochester (arochester) said : 		#1

1) If there is a file called Fred and I tell it to Save I have one file called Fred

2) If there is a file called Fred and I tell it to Save As Jim, then Save As John, then Save As George I end up with 4 files called Fred, Jim, John and George. Handy e.g. if I am writing a letter and just changing the addressee

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George Standish (george-standish-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#2

tdn,

The Gimp offers both a "Save as" and a "Save a Copy" and I cannot for the life of me tell a difference.

The "Save a Copy" includes the rather unclear statement "Save this image with a different name, but keep its current name".

In both cases it defaulted to saving to the exact same name, I expected "Save a Copy" to append a "... (copy)..." or something.

Perhaps this is just used as a method for helping those unexperienced with computers clarify what they are doing?

From my perspective, they are identical.

Sorry for the Non-Answer Answer, hope you find a real one,
George

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Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#3

e.g. Evince offers me to open a copy of current open .pdf file, then I'd like to save a copy, it will change it to .pdf-0 right away.
Of course the name can be changed manually any time, no matter how I save the file.
Save as... indicates in my view that I might want to save the file as .jpg or whatever.
An example what I mean,
http://wiki.showmedo.com/index.php/Video_editing_Ubuntu#Subtitles

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tdn (spam-thomasdamgaard) said : 		#4

Sam, I do not see where your link mentions Save a copy.
When I use "Save as" and "Save Copy as" in Okular, it suggests the same name to be saved. It does not change the name to ".pdf-0" or anything like that.

Arochester, thanks for your reply. However, I do not ask about the difference between "Save" and "Save as" but rather "Save as" and "Save Copy As".

George, nice to see that it is not just me who cannot tell the difference. I cannot see how adding arbitrary redundant menu items will help unexperienced users.

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Best Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#5

The difference is very small. "Save as..." will save the file currently opened under new name and remember this new name for the open file. "Save a copy..." will not remember the name.

For example if you open 1.jpg, SAVE it AS 2.jpg, make a change and hit "Save", 2.jpg will be changed since you are working now with the new name.
If you SAVE A COPY to 2.jpg you are still working with 1.jpg and the old file will be overwritten on saving.

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tdn (spam-thomasdamgaard) said : 		#6

Thomas: Thank you.

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tdn (spam-thomasdamgaard) said : 		#7

Thanks Thomas Krüger, that solved my question.