Save your text

Step by step

1. Click the Start button! Look at the bottom of this practice computer: the dark strip there is its taskbar. In the middle of it, click the Start button (four blue squares). The main menu opens just above it. If you see two taskbars, use the one inside this page.
2. Click "Notepad". In the menu that opened, click the "Notepad" tile (a square with a small picture and its name under it): the app opens in its own window.
3. Write a short list. Click in the white page (the big area under the File, Edit and View menus) and type a few words with the keyboard, for example "milk eggs bread". The Enter key starts a new line.
4. Open the "File" menu. Under the title bar, at the top left of the Notepad window, click "File" (the first word of the menu bar): a menu drops down.
5. Click "Save As". In the File menu, click "Save As" (the fourth line): a window called "Save as" opens.
6. Choose "Documents". In the "Save as" window, look at the column on its left (the list of places) and click "Documents": that is the folder where your texts are kept.
7. Give the file a name. At the bottom of the "Save as" window, the "File name" box holds a suggested name. Erase it and give your file a name of your own, for example "my-list". You do not need to add an ending: the computer adds ".txt" by itself.
8. Click "Save". At the bottom right of the "Save as" window, click the "Save" button: the window closes, your text is saved, and the name of your file shows at the top of the Notepad window, where it said "Untitled".
9. Close this window. You are done with this window, so close it: click the ✕ button at the top right corner of the "Notepad" window (on its title bar, the strip at the top). The window disappears.

These steps are written for SafePC, a pretend Windows-style computer in your web browser. On your own computer, the buttons and menus may look a little different, but the idea is the same.

More lessons in Writing with Notepad

• Write in Notepad
• Reopen a saved text