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I have read several questions (here and elsewhere) that look for applications that can save in a format instead of export in a format. What is the difference between saving in a format, and exporting in a format? Is it just that there is an additional dialog box, or does an exported file in some way behave differently? Is this a style over substance issue?

I have no problem with people wanting things the WAY they want them, I just want to understand if there is a fundamental difference in the function of an exported over the function of a saved file.

Examples: Pages exports in formats that Open Office saves in. Pixelmator exports in formats that PhotoShop saves in (so I've been told).

mmmmmm
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Everett
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  • Export may imply some loss. For instance, exporting a Word document as PDF loses the ability to edit it. – lhf Dec 06 '12 at 17:23
  • @lhf - That's a function of it being a PDF. If you import the PDF into a PDF editor (say Acrobat) then you can edit the PDF. I can "export" a Tiff from Pixelmator, and turn around and edit it. – Everett Dec 06 '12 at 17:26

3 Answers3

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  • To save is to commit changes to a permanent state in a format that the application can natively utilize.

  • To export is to change the data format so that another application can utilize it.

From webopedia.com:

Save: To copy data from a temporary area to a more permanent storage medium....To record your modifications to the file on the disk, you must save the file.


Export: To format data in such a way that it can be used by another application. An application that can export data can create a file in a format that another application understands, enabling the two programs to share the same data.

Allan
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AS @lhf comments export/import implies that there is some information lost during one of the processes so that you can't export and then import and get exactly the same document back.

Save usually writes the file in the format that is native to the application or in the same format as the file was opened in.

Some applications e.g. Microsoft Office will not use export as much as this but use save as to allow conversion of the format of the document and possibly lose some information e.g. Excel can save as .csv. (I don't have MS Office here and can't remember if they have an export on the file menu). The do have an import that adds the selected document to the current one so another meaning.

The examples you give are both that the file file format is native to an application ( Open Office and PhotoShop) and the other applications' export converts their own format to these on export.

mmmmmm
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Saving means to keep a file record by saving the documents with a file name in a given particular file extension whereas exporting file somewhat refers to transportation of a file from a location to some another location like from your pc to some other pc.

Rajiv Singh420
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