Note that this page only applies to Prism Mac, not Prism Windows.

Why there is no Save As command

Prism Mac uses the new File menu introduced by Apple. Details. It has no File..Save As command visible. It isn't needed because the new commands, Duplicate, Rename, Move and Save Copy do what most people use Save as for. But you can expose the Save As command if you really want to.

How to get the command if you really really want it

If you really want Save As, you can get it in two ways:

•Hold the Option key, and drop the File menu. Now the "Duplicate" command is gone, replaced with  "Save As..."

•Press the Save menu button in the toolbar. You'll see "Save As"  on that menu.

           

What the Save..As command does

The whole idea of the new way of working is that there is only one document. In the old way of working, there was one copy on disk and one transient copy in working memory (RAM). If you didn't save your work (on purpose or by accident) all your work was lost back to the last save. If you used File..Save as, you'd save the current RAM version of the file in the new name, while the older file continues to exist. With the new way of work, there only is one project file.

The Save As command makes a duplicate of the file with the name you entered. The original file still exists and is saved with has all the edits up to the time of Save..As. Immediately after using Save As, the two files are identical. You can then roll one of the copies back to how it looked before the edits.

Why you don't need to use the Save..As command

•If you want to rename, use File..Rename.

•If you want to put the file in a different folder or drive, use File..Move to.

•If you want to clone your file, so one copy has the older information and the other has the edits, use File..Duplicate. That will create two copies of the file. You can close one (to keep it as is) and edit the other.

•If you want to save a copy of the current file as a milestone or backup, use File.. Save a Copy (in the Save Special menu).

•What if you have made many edits and want to save these with a new name without changing the saved version? You can't do exactly that because there is no distinction between the working (ram) version and the saved version. But you can accomplish the same goal. Use File..Duplicate. Then use File..Revert to bring one of the files back to how it was. Then close that file if you are done with it, and work on the other copy with all your edits. Note that File..Revert only works so long as you are on the same computer that did the edits. The information needed to revert is saved in hidden files on that computer's drive, not within the Prism file.

How is Save As different than Duplicate and Save Copy?

The  commands are very similar. After invoking any of the three commands, you'll have two identical files with different names.

•After File..Duplicate, both files are open.

•After File..Save As, the original file has been closed and only the newly named copy is open.

•After File..Save Copy, you continue working on the same file with the old name, but a milestone backup was saved with the name and location you entered.

 

The one use of Save As that has no alternative

There is one purpose of Save As that is not available with the other commands. If you have saved the file in .pzf format and want to switch to .pzfx. Or the other way around. The only way to change file extension is to use File..Save As.