When you’re working on a TextEdit document, you should save it periodically to preserve your changes. You can also save a copy of a document—for example, if you need to save it in a different format from the original version, or you want to be able to make changes to the file without changing the original.
You can set certain preferences for how TextEdit saves documents. For example, you can have TextEdit periodically save a backup copy of your document so that you don’t lose your changes, and specify whether a filename extension is added to the names of plain text files.
To save a document:
Choose File > Save.
If the document hasn’t ever been saved, enter a name and specify a location to save it. If the document is a Rich Text Format (RTF) file, you can also choose a different file format for it (such as HTML).
To save a copy of a document:
Choose File > Save As.
Enter a new name for the document, and change other options (such as the location or file format) if desired.
To set saving preferences:
Choose TextEdit > Preferences, and then click “Open and Save.”
To have TextEdit automatically save (or “autosave”) a backup of documents while you’re working, choose how often you want to autosave from the “Autosave modified documents” pop-up menu below Autosaving. If TextEdit unexpectedly quits, it opens the backup copy of your document the next time you open TextEdit.
If you don’t want TextEdit to save a backup of your documents, choose Never from the pop-up menu.
To delete the backup file whenever you save a document, select the checkbox labeled “Delete the automatic backup file” below “When Saving a File.”
To add “.txt” to the end of filenames for plain text files, select the checkbox labeled “Add ‘.txt’ extension to plain text files” below “When Saving a File.”
To restore these preferences to the original settings, click Restore All Defaults.