Save as does not change the current file name

Hi, this has been mentioned before, and it is an old bug that still sometimes catches me.
When I have saved a document as a file with a new name, the current document’s name does not always change.
So when I did not pay attention to the fact that my active document still has it’s original name and I save it, the original document (sometimes a document I use as a template !) is overwritten.
.bak did save me a few times, and I often set properties of files I use as (temporary) template as read only, but I will be trapped sometime in the future if this bug keeps on living…

Are you saving files with the same file type as the current version of Rhino. Rhino 7 .3dm file if using Rhino 7. Or are you saving as different file type?

If you SaveAs a different file type and keep working then Rhino continues to use the old file name as the current file name. Based on a previous discussion this is the intended behavior.

But it surely asks you if you want to overwrite the file, doesn’t it?

The original post is lamenting that this behaviour caused overwriting original files often used as templates.
Hence the question.

Overwrite which file?

The behavior I see:

Have FileA which is V7 .3dm type open in Rhino 7.
SaveAs FileB in V5 .3dm type. New file will be created as FileB.3dm in V5 type.
Later Save and the file will be saved as FileA in V7 .3dm type. No questions asked. Same as SaveAs in V5 type had not been done. I understand this is the intended behavior.

– But –

SaveAs remembers that the last file type used in SaveAs. So if I SaveAs again the file type will be V5 unless I change it. I don’t remember if this has always been the behavior or is new behavior.

I’ve been caught a few times when I need a simplified version of a file in V5 for a client. I open the file, delete geometry, and SaveAs with a different file name in V5 type. Do some more updates to the geometry and Save. But I forget that the save file will have the same file name as the original file so I lose the geometry I deleted to create the simplified V5 version.

Ask @PodoTools
To be clear: I mostly agree with you here.

@PodoTools
In any case: if you need templates it is better to “save as template” as starting from a template creates a new unnamed file (which is a copy of your template file)
Saving will ask you to name this file.
IIRC

Saving as the same file type.
Problem is that it is not reproducible every time.
Thinking about it, it seems to happen after an update.

I agree, I should save more often as a template, but I only do that when I have a “finished” template, not while working on a new template.
But I will re- consider my workflow.

No, it does not ask anythin

@brian: considering the ease and regrettable downside of users getting this wrong, perhaps the warning system should get some reconsideration. At the very least if the originally opened file is modified AND written out in any form other than a normal save the user should get a warning message even for a subsequent normal save. Perhaps also given the opportunity to choose between overwriting the original file or the previously “saved as” file. I guess it would mean maintaining a slightly more complex “file modified” status than present but it could probably prevent a lot of imaginary suicides or mistreated pets and coworkers.

@brian, On reflection it seems to me that the behaviour of Rhino when saving is a bad user experience, because it is different from the standard Windows paradigm. In Word, once I use Save As, I am editing that new file, regardless of the name or extension chosen, regardless of choosing an old version, an external format or a template; in Excel the same thing happens, in Powerpoint the same thing happens, in Project the same thing happens.

When there is concensus behaviour across the commonest Windows applications it seems unwise to ignore that context and make similar commands behave differently in Rhino, even if you are doing so at the behest of some users (we are not always right :blush:). Particularly when the the standard Windows model is simple and intuitive, having what UI people call good affordance.

Jeremy

Here’s what I just did, and I think it’s doing what we all expect…

  1. Open Rhino 7
  2. Draw a box
  3. Save the file as Box.3dm
  4. Delete the box
  5. Draw a sphere
  6. SaveAs the file as Sphere.3dm
  7. Draw a line under the sphere
  8. Save
  9. Open Box.3dm (I see a box)
  10. Open Sphere.3dm (I see a sphere with a line under it)

If you get something different, please provide detailed step-by-step instructions.

Now, it seems that if, in step 6, I do SaveAs to any file format other than Rhino 7 3dm, the current document name does not change. Rhino has been this way forever.

@jeremy5 does Office let you do SaveAs to a file other than their native format? (I haven’t had a copy of office for about a decade) If so, does it also change the application title bar to the new filename?

Brian, I tried with AI and it does change the name, but it seems to keep track of what format the file is in, and it warns you when you save.

Make some stuff
Save as X.ai
SaveAs to AI v3 as Y.ai
Title bar changes to Y.ai and you get a warning about how some stuff may not work.
Make new stuff
Save
Same warning about how it is different.(you can shut that off)

I know that is not MS stuff - I do not have that here either.

-Pascal

Thanks, but that’s not really consistent with this report:

This is the situation we need to find. All the rest seems to be working as expected.

@PodoTools can you add some more details about what you’re doing when the current document’s title doesn’t always change? Is it ONLY when you run SaveAsTemplate? If so, that’s entirely by design - but I suppose could be opened for debate.

Right, sorry, I was checking other apps behavior, not trying to reproduce the possible bug.
-Pascal

Yes to both. Here are the Save As choices from Word:

And here is the title bar after I chose to save as a web page:

And then as a Word 97-2003 template:

And if I then go to Save As in the current Word format, I get a warning that my document will be upgraded:

After which the title bar reflects the new format:

And all these files are in the file system:

HTH
Jeremy

p.s. When I chose the Template option, Word automatically put the file in my custom templates folder.

I actually hate that behavior in Word and Excel… if I SaveAs, for example .csv from Excel, the file I’m working on becomes a .csv, when all I wanted to do is save out a .csv for some purpose but continue to have the original in .xlsx. Word the same with .rtf.

No, it happens sometimes (!) when I use _SaveAs, not SaveAsTemplate.
The problem is that I cannot reproduce it.
It might be possible that it only happens the first time I run SaveAs after installing an update.
I will try to think of testing this theorie when a new version is available

Yeah, but it then asks if you want to keep using the csv format as some features will be lost. If you say no, it reverts to xlxs format, having saved the csv file. (Excel 2019, older Excels may differ).