How to work around the problem and save your data

If Prism won't let you save your Prism file, try going to each data table, drop the File menu, choose Save Special, and then choose Save Family as. This command will save the table you are on as well as all linked sheets. Most likely, you'll be able to save all but one family.

Once you've found a family containing a corrupted sheet, go to the data table and export the data in TXT or CSV format, so you can import it later. Then delete that family or just one of its sheets.  When you find and delete the corrupted sheet, the rest of your file should save OK.

If that doesn't work, another workaround is to export the each data table to its own text or XML file. To do this, go to each table and use File...Export.  

One person told us that the file wouldn't save so long as the navigator had any open sections. Only when all five sections of the navigator were closed (collapsed) would the file save. We haven't confirmed this, but it is worth a try.

Prism Windows

If the problem is that Prism crashes on saving, but Save As works fine, see this faq. 

Reboot

Reboot your computer, as that solves lots of problems. Really it does!

Please update

Use Help..Check for updates to update to the latest release.  A fix in 7.01 resolves this problem when files created with Prism 6 couldn't be saved from Prism 7.00. 

Prism Windows. Is the folder/file name too long?

Windows, even Windows 10, can only handle a path length (folders and file name) of 256 characters. When your path length is too long, Prism gives a vague message about unable to save file. Try shortening folder names, or nesting folders less deeply, or using a shorter file name. 

Prism Windows. Does the folder/file name contain Unicode characters?

Prism Windows can only handle a path and file name that is entirely in "regular" characters. Not Cyrillic. Not Japanese. When the path or file name contain other characters, Prism 6 gives a generic "unable to open file" message (fixed in Prism 7). 

Is the problem with saving a backup copy of the file?

Go to the File&Printer tab of the Preferences file, and turn off the options for automatic file saving. Does that help? If not, turn those options back on.

Prism Windows 6.00 - 6.04

 We know of one problem in Prism 6.00 to 6.04 that caused this problem. Copy some results from a table and paste on the graph. Now go remove the data from the data table, and try to save the file. Prism is confused with a graph that has an embedded data table with no data, and gives the "Cannot save file" message. Fixed in 6.05. The workaround is to delete the graph with the embedded nontable. Do so from the graph gallery, by right clicking on the appropriate graph. (Deleting from the Navigator or the Edit menu often doesn't work; use the gallery.) Once that graph is gone, you can save the file just fine.

General last resorts

• Create and send us a log file, which might help us figure out what's going on.
• Look for a file with the same name as the file you are trying to save, but with the extensions .PZ$. If you find it, rename it to .PZF (or .PZFX) to recover your work. When you resave a file using the Save button, Prism first saves the file using the .PZ$ extension, then deletes the previous version, then renames the .PZ$ file to either .PZF or .PZFX (your choice when you first saved the file). If the .PZ$ file remains on your drive and Prism presents the "Unable to save..." message, then Windows must be blocking Prism from  deleting the old version or renaming the .PZ$ file. Check the permissions on that drive. If you are saving to a networked drive, consider saving to a local drive instead.

Early releases of Prism 5 Windows (5.00 - 5.03)

We know of five problems that might possibly cause this problem. All were fixed by the release of 5.04, so please update. 

• This problem can happen when any sheet name is longer than 80 characters. This happens when a graph or results sheet name is quite long, and you then rename a linked data table. Related sheets will be renamed as well. If that pushes any of the sheet names to be more than 80 characters long, Prism won't be able to save the file. You'll see the cryptic "unable to save" message.  Once the problem has occurred, there is no perfect workaround. Shortening the long sheet names so they have fewer than 80 characters won't help. The damage has been done, and Prism won't be able to save the file. The best workarond is to delete those particular sheets. Once the sheets whose names got too long are deleted, Prism will be able to save the rest of the file.

• When you recalculate a t test, each recalculation adds some unnecessary stuff to the file. This is  harmless until the number of copies reaches to the thousands. Avoid this problem by not running scripts that repeatedly recompute a t test analysis.

• Duplicating a correlation analysis can corrupt the data structures.

• We've had one report that cloning a graph with linked analyses (from the Welcome dialog) caused this problem. Instead, duplicate a graph (with family) from the New menu.
• With a  Network installation,  this problem can happen if some users don't have the proper permissions to write to the appropriate network drives and directories. To check this:

1. Open folder (where one tries to save Prism file) properties dialog.
2. Go to the Sharing tab, click the button "Permissions".
3. Make sure that "Full Control" is "Allowed".
4. Go to Security tab in the folder properties dialog.
5. Also make sure  "Full Control" is "Allowed".
6. Click Advanced button.
7. Make sure "Full Control" is set in the Advanced Security Settings dialog too.

Prism Mac

Reboot your computer as that solves lots of problems. Really!

Make sure you are up to date. Use Help..Check for updates to find out.

We know of one unusual situation that will provoke a message -- if you try to resave a file using the Save As dialog. You'll see the misleading message, "Cannot save document. This file is being used. Save it under a new name or another location." There is no need, of course, to use File.. Save as to resave a file using the same file name. Simply click Save or use the File..Save command. File... Save as works fine for its purpose of saving a file with a new name or to a new location. The misleading message occurs when you try to use File.. Save As to save back to the same location with the same name, but not when you simply save the file.

If the problem persists, here is one thing to try -- fix disk permissions:

1. Run the Disk  Utility located at: "[system disk]:Applications:Utilities:Disk Utility"
2. Once inside the Disk Utility window, select the drive, then go to the First Aid tab and then click the Repair Disk Permissions button. Be sure to choose your hard drive, not the program CD or DMG 'drive'.
3. Disk permissions problems are common in  older Macs, so this is something you should do routinely.

Here are some general tips that might help.

• If you use 5.0a, please update to 5.0f. 
• Use Help..Check for updates to make sure you have the latest release.
• After you try to Save As to another folder, look for a file with extension .pzf$ in that folder? If it exists, please send it to us.
• Are there any .PZB files in the ~/Library/Application Support/GraphPad/Prism/6/Prism Backups/ folder? If so, please send them to us.
• Is the path really long? Shorten it.
• Does the path contain any punctuation? Try removing it. 
• Create and send us a Prism log file. This page explains how. 
• Look for messages from Prism in the system console.
  1. Launch Console application (in /Application/Utilities/).
  2. Select DATABASE SEARCHES -> Console Messages in the left pane.
  3. Type "Prism" in the "Filter" field on the toolbar.
  4. Choose File -> Save a Copy As... and save the log file.
  5. Send us the log file.

Older versions. 

If you are using Prism 3 or 4, this message can come up when one of your sheets is corrupted somehow, and Prism gets confused when it tries to save it. 

If you are using Prism 2 Mac, there are two possible reasons:

1. Don't use punctuation or international characters in file or folder names.
2. Prism can't save files if the total length of the folder, plus its parent folder, plus its parent folder... is too long. Use shorter names or less nesting.