Last Updated on September 28, 2022 by Dave Farquhar
I was working on some documents in Word and Excel last week and needed to know where the files were. Figuring that out used to be easy: Just use Save As. But that looks really different in Office 365. Here’s what happened to save as in Office 365, and where to find the old one.
The key to not getting frustrated with Microsoft is knowing that when useful functionality goes missing, they usually didn’t get rid of it entirely. They hid it, and in this case, it’s hiding behind the Browse button.
What happened to Save as in Office 365
Today when you use the Save As function, it looks really tablet-like. And sometimes that might be fine. If you work in a cloud-first environment and only use the files within Microsoft apps, for example. But it raises questions as to whether you can even save Office 365 documents on your own computer, locally.
I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon but there are times when I need to save a file locally and get the full file path so I can refer back to it. And when you use the the save as function in Word 365 or Excel 365 or any other Office 365 app these days, you don’t see the full file path anymore. You only see the name of the subdirectory. And you can’t copy and paste the full file path anymore either. Sometimes I need to do things like that, so I don’t think I’m being a curmudgeon. Even cloud-first shops aren’t necessarily 100% cloud, or 100% Microsoft Cloud. Maybe you have to be old enough to know why hard drives are called drive C to fully appreciate this feature, but it’s still useful even if you’re younger than me.
But don’t worry. Old-school save as isn’t gone forever, they just moved it. You know, to keep Wordperfect from making a big comeback. Or Apple. It’s probably Apple.
Don’t call it Save As. Call it Browse. Or call it More Options.
Save As in Word 365 and Excel 365 is now Browse
When you click Save As and get the tablet knock0ff UI, there’s a subtle, easy-to-ignore button called Browse. And when you click that, a retro-looking Save As dialog box pops up, very much like what you would have seen in the Windows 7 era. Including the part I need for my use case, which is the full file path. And you can highlight whatever is in the path, press CTRL-C to copy it, then paste it wherever you need it. And when you’re saving a file somewhere other than the default places, whether it’s a second drive, removable media like a USB stick, or an on-premise network share, you know exactly where it’s going.
In Excel, you can also click More Options to bring up the same dialog box. But that’s not present in all Office 365 apps, for whatever reason.
But when you need to save Office 365 documents locally or just get the full file path, that’s how you do it.
The key to not getting frustrated with Microsoft is knowing that when useful functionality goes missing, they usually didn’t get rid of it entirely. If they couldn’t Metro-ize it, they moved it somewhere they thought people wouldn’t notice. That’s clearly what happened here. That browse button is the equivalent of right-clicking the Start button in Windows itself.
One more annoyance
Another thing that annoyed me about Office 365 was the title bar. I couldn’t drag the title bar because it was too crowded. Here’s how to declutter the title bar so you have room to drag the window.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
“Maybe you have to be old enough to know why hard drives are called drive C to fully appreciate this feature”
I see what you did there. ?
Argh. The question mark shouldn’t be there.
Believe it or not, that line was what inspired that other blog post. It’s not uncommon for me to be writing about one thing and then realize something I make a reference to in that post would be a better blog post. So sometimes I’ll write one blog post and end end up writing five. Usually I schedule them a few days apart to avoid repetition but in this case since the two things weren’t exactly the same subject matter I went ahead and ran them back to back.
But the subtle tie-in to Monday was an accident. I wrote these two before the one from Monday and even intended to run something else on Monday, but then the helmet story happened. Whatever was running Monday is running next week now. Tentatively.