Saving Documents For the First Time or Under Another Name

This task shows you how to save a document for the first time or under another name.
  Before you begin, note that files in STL format cannot be saved using File > Save As when working in Wireframe mode. The reason is that STL files are generated from the visualization tessellation and tessellation triangles are not available when switching to Wireframe mode.

  1. Select File > Save As to open the following dialog box:

  2. In the Save As dialog box, specify the location of the document to be saved as well as its name and type.

    The Save as new document check box lets you save an existing document under a new name but with a new UUID (Unique Universal IDentifier).
    This option is effective only when the document is saved in its native format, i.e. when the document type (displayed in the Save as type box) has not been modified. Otherwise, this option is ineffective.

    Note that when using File > Save As for a new document, the Save as new document check box is not displayed in the Save As dialog box because it is irrelevant in this context.

  3. Click Save.

    If the name you give to the file already exists, a message appears to ask if you really want to overwrite the already existing document.
    • You are not allowed to use national characters or forbidden special characters in the document name. The special characters / (slash) or \ (backslash) are replaced with _ (underscore).
      For more information, please refer to About Filenames.
    • On Windows, documents cannot be stored in a folder for which delete authorization is not set.

If the document you are trying to save points to parts, a pop-up is displayed to warn you that these parts will also be saved and you are prompted to click either Yes (to confirm), or Cancel if you do not want to save these pointed parts. In that case, select File > Save Management to choose the documents to be saved.
This pop-up message is not displayed if you select File > Save All.
 

Note that the Save As dialog box lets you rename or delete the selected file/folder by right-clicking it then selecting Rename or Delete.
After clicking Delete, a confirmation dialog box appears: click OK to delete the selected item.
When renaming a file or folder, if the new name you entered is already used, the item is not renamed and a warning message is displayed.
 

More about the Save As mechanism

When you save a file by giving it the name of another existing file, this does not mean that the new file is identical to the original one. As a matter of fact, a file is identified by its name but also by its UUID (Unique Universal IDentifier) which differs from one file to another (except when a file is a copy of another one, for instance).
To illustrate this, let's suppose a CAProduct containing two CATParts, Part1.CATPart and Part2.CATPart:

  1. Product1 and the two parts it points to are saved using File > Save As, then the Product1 is closed

  2. A new part is created using File > New

  3. The new part is saved as "Part2" in the same folder then Part2 is closed

  4. When re-opening Product1, you are informed that Part2 cannot be found.

The reason is that the new document saved as "Part2" has been given a new UUID when using File > New and this new UUID is different from the one assigned to the original Part2. Therefore, the link between Product1 and Part2 is considered as broken, even if there is a Part2.CATPart document, because the original Part2 does not exist anymore.
If you want to reroute the link to the new Part2.CATPart, you need to select Edit > Links then click Replace.