Differences; opening a file vs saving a file!

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Hi,


I am trying to figure out what is the difference between opening a file, and saving a file?

As in both cases it seems to save it into the download folder anyway!
 
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chas_m

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You appear to be talking about "opening" versus "saving" from the net, rather than locally: an important difference you neglected to mention!

You also appear to be asking this based on the dialog box of either Firefox or some PC-based browser, since Safari doesn't offer these options. Again, some info about your machine, OS version and browser would have been helpful!

The basic difference is that when choosing "opening," the browser will download the file and then *attempt* to launch the program associated with it (for example, choosing "open" with a PDF file should launch either Preview or Adobe Reader). This only works with certain file types.

"Saving" simply saves the file and does not attempt to open it.
 
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I am trying to figure out what is the difference between opening a file (download), and saving a (downloaded)file?

As in both cases it seems to save it into the download folder anyway!

My edit above, following on the previous post. If you're downloading a file, you are putting it on your hard drive. It has to go somewhere. The default location is the Downloads folder for all downloads. When saving it, you often have an option to put it wherever you like, but may still end up with a copy in the Downloads folder. That's been my experience, if my grey matter isn't failing me!
 
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Adding to that, with certain applications, there will also be default locations that items will be saved to, and the settings are often located in the application preferences, where you can change these options.
For ease of keeping track, I set everything I download to save to my desktop except for application updates, so I can move the items manually and keep track of everything that I put on my Hard Drive.
This leaves only a couple of items in my downloads folder to clear out every now and then.
Not that my little input really had anything to do with the actual question! LOL
 
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Hi,


thank you for all the responses.

Sorry not having mentioned that I have firefox, and OS is 10.04 as I remember!(where can I see which version I have?)

I should have also said that I am rather talking about opening files from the net i.e PDF files etc

I wanted to understand why would a file be saved on my system even if I just wanted to open that file in question, I thought I will read it and after I am over with it let go out of my system i.e. no saving!

6string, yes - because my question was going to lead; how to organize all those files that interested me in my system or elsewhere! But to my horror, I did unintentionally save some few times and they are very big files, and many that didnt interest me at all but got saved on my system!

How can I avoid automatic saving of opened files?

Just as a side note, what difference does a browser make in this all?

Somehow, I didnt see much use in using Safari or Chrome for most situations that matter to me; any user feedback of why you use the above and for which tasks?
 
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chas_m

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Sorry not having mentioned that I have firefox, and OS is 10.04 as I remember!(where can I see which version I have?)

Apple menu in the menubar -> first item "About this Mac."

I wanted to understand why would a file be saved on my system even if I just wanted to open that file in question, I thought I will read it and after I am over with it let go out of my system i.e. no saving!

Safari (and, I'm sure, Firefox) *can* do it this way (specifically with PDF files). IIRC, by default Safari will open an online PDF "in-line" and doesn't save it. You can turn this off if you like, or alter the behaviour to have some other program open it (such as Adobe Reader, though I've never found this to be needed).
 
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Hi,


I just checked out my mac OS x is version; 10.5.8

I am not aware of any settings that I pre-selected to save ANY opened file into any folders on my Mac!

What I want to do; if I open a file if I know I want it in anyway I want it to be saved in a certain folder! If I am not sure about the file I want to open and only if it interests me I want to save it into a certain folder!

But never do i want to get any saved files, to only discover after opening a file that they dont meet my needs!

Also, how can I avoid to download into any folder with the the same file name/same file?

If you know where that specific setting is could you pls let me know where it is, to change the setting!

I cant believe my Mac doesnt recognize, that it saved already an identical document. It saves it again in the download folder sometimes multiple times, if I opened the same file on the net few times !

Though I am wondering how is it possible to save the same kind of file, with the exact same kind of file name?

As I know from Windows, it will indicate that there is an other file with the exact name and will urge me to change the file name!

How to change the file name, before opening/a saving a file? As the small FF window that appears after clicking on a file gives only the option of "open with..." or "Save file" or "Do this automatically for files like this from now on".

I ask this because most files that I have to check out have file numbers, but no indication of to what the file is referenced to...! I would like to add a specific file name&code after having read the file i.e. if the file interests me that much to save it!

Any useful hints will be appreciated!


thxxx
 

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What I want to do; if I open a file if I know I want it in anyway I want it to be saved in a certain folder! If I am not sure about the file I want to open and only if it interests me I want to save it into a certain folder!
Have Firefox open the file then. When it's open, you can save it from within the application that has been opened. For instance, if you're looking at a PDF in Preview (after it being opened by Firefox), simply save it from there.

Also, how can I avoid to download into any folder with the the same file name/same file?
It's saved with the same file name because it's the same file name that is used by the file that you've already downloaded. That said, a number is appended to the end to note that there is more than one copy of that file with the same name. If you want to avoid this, name the files differently.

I cant believe my Mac doesnt recognize, that it saved already an identical document. It saves it again in the download folder sometimes multiple times, if I opened the same file on the net few times !
OS X doesn't scan documents to see if they are exactly the same. Your browser checks file names and if they are the same, it is doing you a favour by appending a number so that you don't overwrite the original.
 
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Hi,


well despite your explanation I am still in the dark.

Yes, I do understand what you mean...!

What I am trying to say is, it just doesnt make any difference at least with FF on a Mac if you save a file whatever type in fact it is or if you happen to have opened it; it is saved automatically!

Most doc's regardless of file type do have numbers as "file names" i.e. 1099664327 and if you have unknowingly opened that same file it will just copy it into your system!

It doesnt seem to make a difference between saving a file that you want to save compared to a file that gets save even you just happen to have opened it to see what the file about!

Yes, as you said it seems to add a number after the last position of the file name(number in my case)!

Can you imagine you have many files with numbers, and the only difference u might spot is the end number that might indicate there are more than one copy in your system!

No very productive is it...! As I get the "filename" 10996643272 as above and a 2 for being the second same file in my system.

My question at this stage would be, how can I avoid the above?

How to save it in a file name to my preferences, and make it more easily visible that there are more than one of the same doc's in my system!

Any help will be appreciated!
 

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In Firefox, go to Firefox > Preferences > General > Downloads and make sure "Always ask me where to save files" is selected. Now, when you go to save a file, it will ask you where you want to save it and with what name.
 
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Safari's General preferences also have a couple of download management options.
 
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Hi,


thanks for the comments.

So far I havent seen much advantage in using Safari as my main browser, just wondering am I missing here on something!

Anyway, vansmith I did the way you describe it on my browser "general" is called "main". Could you pls tell me how could I know the size/when the file/doc was saved without opening the file/doc i.e. in the past I knew I could hover over with my mouse on a file name where I could see the name/size/and date of download!
 
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Hi Vansmith,


how can I figure out the quickest identical multiple saved files incl. maybe if their file name differs?

Is there also a way to avoid getting files saved just by opening a file to read, and only than decide if you want to save it or not?
 
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how could I know the size/when the file/doc was saved without opening the file/doc i.e. in the past I knew I could hover over with my mouse on a file name where I could see the name/size/and date of download!

I'm finding that the "hover and reveal" feature is inconsistent. For some items, it pops up quickly, for others after a few seconds, still others, several seconds, and some, longer (apparently) than I'm willing to wait (over 30 seconds).

You can click to highlight and open the Get Info box. Does that tell you what you want to know?
 

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s there also a way to avoid getting files saved just by opening a file to read, and only than decide if you want to save it or not?
When you choose to open a file, it has to be downloaded somewhere. Choosing to open a file simply saves it somewhere and then opens it. From my own experiences, this is the same across all browsers and all operating systems.
 

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