Word 2010

How to save documents

Video: Saving Documents in Word 2010

Watch the video (2:41).

Whenever you create a new document in Word, you'll need to know how to save it in order to access and edit it later. Word allows you to save your documents in a number of ways.

To use the Save As command:

Save As allows you to choose a name and location for your document. It's useful if you've first created a document or if you want to save a different version of a document while keeping the original.

1. Click the File tab.
2. Select Save As.
   Save As
3. The Save As dialog box will appear. Select the location where you wish to save the document.
4. Enter a name for the document, then click Save.
   The Save As dialog box

If you're using Windows 7, you'll usually want to save things to your Documents library, and in other versions of Windows you'll save them to the My Documents folder. For more information, check out our lessons on Windows 7 and Windows XP.

To use the Save command:

1. Click the Save command on the Quick Access Toolbar.
   Saving a document
2. The document will be saved in its current location with the same file name.

If you are saving for the first time and select Save, the Save As dialog box will appear.

AutoRecover

Word automatically saves your documents to a temporary folder while you're working on them. If you forget to save your changes or if Word crashes, you can recover the autosaved file.

1. Open a document that was previously closed without saving.
2. In Backstage view, click Info.
3. If there are autosaved versions of your file, they will appear under Versions. Click on the file to open it.
   Opening an autosaved file
4. To save changes, click Restore, then click OK.
   Restoring a file

By default, Word autosaves every 10 minutes. If you are editing a document for less than 10 minutes, Word may not create an autosaved version.