What is a Save File Dialog?
A save file dialog is a dialog window that appears when saving a file. It asks the user to choose where to save the file, typically letting the user browse their filesystem and navigate through their folder hierarchy.
Save file dialogs typically feature:
- An address bar showing the current location shown in the main pane.
- A main pane showing files and folders inside a location.
- A filename field where you can type a filename to save in the current location.
- A file extension filter picker as a dropdown list button.
- A Save button to confirm the action.
- A Cancel button to cancel the action.
Save file dialogs are almost identical to open file dialogs.
When saving a file, if you choose a filename that already exists in the current location, you should be asked whether you want to overwrite (save over) an existing file. If you aren't asked this, that should be considered a bug in the application.. Choosing a filename that doesn't exist simply creates the file without asking anything.
Internally, the way save file dialogs typically work is that the application developer doesn't program the save file dialog itself, but instead uses a toolkit that comes with a save file dialog they can use. The only information the programmer typically gets from the save file dialog is the filepath chosen by the user, if any.
Some applications behave differently depending on which file extension was selected in the filter. For example, Inkscape has both "Inkscape SVG (.svg)" and "Plain SVG (.svg)" options with the same file extension, so whether a plain or non-plain SVG is saved depends on which option was selected in the dialog.