How To Get “Save As” Shortcut In MacOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave

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How to Get “Save As” Shortcut in macOS Ventura, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave Nov 13, 2018 - 36 Comments

The Mac “Save As” keyboard shortcut allows you to quickly save a new version of an active document without re-writing the currently active document, which is perfect for many productivity situations where you’d want to save a current file as a different file type for compatibility reasons or as a backup version, or as a different copy in a new location, or any number of reasons.

“Save As” used to be a default option in the Mac OS “File” menu but now it’s hidden by default. Not to worry, with a simple keyboard app shortcut you can regain the uber convenient “Save As” option in the File menu along with the Command + Shift + S keystroke combo, just like what many longtime Mac users are accustomed to using.

How to Get a “Save As” Shortcut Keystroke & File Menu Item in Mac OS

1. Open the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”
2. Select “Keyboard” and then choose the “Shortcuts” tab
3. Select “App Shortcuts” then press the + plus button to create a new shortcut for All Applications



4. Set the following for the keyboard shortcut:
• Application: All Applications
• Menu Title: “Save As…”
• Keyboard Shortcut: click into the field, then press COMMAND SHIFT S



5. Click “Add” to finish adding the Save As keyboard shortcut to the Mac
6. Close out of System Preferences when finished

Assuming you followed the instructions correctly, Save As will now appear by default in the ‘File’ menu of apps, and be available instantly as the Command Shift S keyboard shortcut.

You can test this out yourself by going to any app that supports file saving and you’ll find the File menu now includes the “Save As” option by default, along with the keyboard shortcut.

Is Save As not working? It’s likely a typo. Note how “Save As…” is written, with As followed by three periods and not an ellipsis, so type out ‘Save As…’ exactly as shown, along with precise capitalization.

Save As on Mac with Command Shift S vs Command Shift Option S

For what it’s worth, modern MacOS versions including Mojave do have the Save As option available by default but it’s hidden from the File menu unless you press the Option key modifiers to make it visible, where it replaces the Duplicate option as those keys are held down.

Thus the modern Mac OS default keyboard shortcut for Save As is the finger twisting combo of Command + Option + Shift + S.

All we’re doing in this particular App Shortcut is to remap that complex keystroke into the familiar and easier to manage Command Shift S keystroke, which was the default in Mac OS for much of Mac history.

This change may not be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of using Save As, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate knowing that you can get this great File saving feature back with a simple effort, and regain the handy keystroke too.

This guide is obviously geared towards modern Mac OS releases like macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, or High Sierra, but if you have an older version of system software on another Mac, you can still go about enabling Save As in earlier Mac OS X versions too, even in Lion with an Export trick by remapping Export to the same keystroke combo. Versions prior to that will need no modification as the default for Save As was Command Shift S.

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Related articles:

• Set a Keyboard Shortcut for “Save as PDF” in Mac OS
• How to Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Mac OS
• Creating a “Save as PDF” Keyboard Shortcut in MacOS Ventura
• How to Set & Use the Accessibility Shortcut on iPhone and iPad

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

36 Comments

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1. JD says: March 5, 2021 at 10:28 am

   How to customize “mac mojave” context menu to be able to hi-light a word, anywhere, right-click it and in the context menu an option to “Lookup in Dictionary” appears?

   Selecting that context menu option would open Dictionary, lookup the selected word and display the result.

   Thanks!

   Reply
   • Paul says: March 5, 2021 at 2:49 pm

     Are you looking to access the Save As menu from the context menu and relating to the dictionary?

     Save As will be available in the File menu, using this trick.

     If you three-finger tap a word with a trackpad it shows the definition

     Alternatively, you can select a word, right-click on it, and choose “Look up (word)” directly from that contextual menu.

     Reply
2. John Thomas Jr Downing says: May 20, 2019 at 9:49 am

   Thank you! Thank you!

   Ever since I lost the Save As… option in Lion I was a bit miffed. The keyboard shortcut for Save As… is so ingrained in my muscle memory I missed having that option. I’ve had a Mac since System 6 so save and save often is something I still do by using ⌘S for quick saves. I don’t entirely trust auto-save in programs.

   As you mentioned Save As… is a handy way to keep different revisions easily accessible while working on a project. Now I have it back.

   You’re the best!

   Reply
3. Saveasiour says: December 6, 2018 at 7:53 pm

   Oh wow, I just realized the osxdaily comment section seems to make three separate dots into that one single “three-dot”-character. 🙂 Or did I make a mistake there? 🤔🙃

   So I actually meant 3x . vs. …

   ——– (testing, sorry for the inconvenience, but I absolutely must correct my mistakes and learn from them!) … … …… …. …… (/testing)

   Reply
4. Saveasiour says: December 5, 2018 at 11:29 am

   Oh, and: Duplicate should be command-d (classic behaviour), I have that added as well.

   Reply
5. Saveasiour says: December 5, 2018 at 11:27 am

   Yup, I’m doing that since the beginning! :-P One of the two reasons (the other one being lack of Rosetta) why 10.7 was a total crap release, at least in my humble opinion. 😇

   Here’s everything you’ll need to get it back to the real old behaviour again, with almost no compromises: https://imgoat.com/uploads/ff8a7b5dc7/171421.png

   Don’t forget “Save…”, it is not pictured.

   Protip: Some devs don’t use three dots but the option-; dots (… vs. … <- select that to see what I'm talking about), so to be uber-sure, add Save As… as well.

   Reply
6. Snowy says: November 23, 2018 at 5:01 am

   just press

   Command + option + shift + s

   That invokes save as…when adding the option key you are triggering the option like when flick file and hold option and duplicate changes to save as…

   It’s same as holding option key and click a dock icon to hide an application

   Reply
7. David J. says: November 22, 2018 at 7:01 am

   I gotta say I find it very annoying that Apple is restricting the OS more and more. With every new release, you gotta waste more time on every machine you use to fix the defaults and get it back to a usable state…

   Reply
8. Betty Troup says: November 15, 2018 at 6:48 am

   I’m running Mojave on a 2016 MacBook Pro. By default, the Save As… keyboard shortcut was set to Command + S and there was no default shortcut (in the File dropdown menu) for Save.

   So I went to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts where I highlighted the default shortcut for Save As… and pressed the – button to delete it. Then I replaced the Save As… shortcut with Command + Shift + S and added Command + S as a new shortcut for Save.

   I use the Apple Pages app for my word processing, but occasionally I must use Microsoft Word. I had noticed that the shortcut Command + S is used for both Save and Save As… I always wondered why this easy shortcut wasn’t used in Pages.

   Reply
9. Peter says: November 14, 2018 at 5:41 pm

   Is there any way to have the startup chime on a later imac? I have turned on verbose logon so i can at least see that it is doing something when i want to go and do another task. Why do apple have to keep fiddling?

   Reply
10. Patrick says: November 14, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    You can bring up Save As by just holding down the Option key when you call up the File menu… Why go through all this effort to make a more complicated keyboard shortcut?

    Reply
    • Dennis says: November 18, 2018 at 1:11 pm

      Patrick,

      From my point of view a menu should contain everything that can be done relating to that menu entry and shortcuts should be ways to quickly access the various items under that menu entry. That way those who know and remember what the shortcuts do can use them. Anyone else can always find and use the various items via the menu. As it is, if you don’t happen to know that holding down the option key and calling up the File menu will get you to “save as” there is nothing about the system that would lead you to even suspect this is true. It’s really about user friendliness.

      Reply
11. Rosa Aksentowicz says: November 14, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Unfortunately I don’t have the MacBook … not jet, but this your Artikel is very useful and detailrich … I will save it As …. soon 😉 Thanks for sharing Paul, your works are very great 👍🙏

    Reply
12. Randall White says: November 14, 2018 at 11:49 am

    BTW,

    I completed step without reading “Is Save As not working? It’s likely a typo…”

    I used the “ellipsis” ( opt – : ) it worked fine, both with menu and keyboard

    Reply
13. Geoff B says: November 14, 2018 at 9:13 am

    On my iMac with latest version of High Sierra (10.13.6) and the latest version of Pages The “Shift Command S” keystroke combo is already specified by the OS to invoke “Duplicate”. Still, as mention, you can always press the option key when in Pages and “Duplicate” changes to “Save as…”.

    Reply
    • At0micMac says: November 16, 2018 at 6:03 pm

      That is the intention of the article. Whenever I do this on a new install it is for the pure purpose of eliminating the “Duplicate” and using “Save As…” instead. I would imagine others find no use to the “Duplicate” and would much rather have Save As.

      Reply
14. no way says: November 14, 2018 at 6:46 am

    Again OSXDaily is over complicating.

    For any application, hold option when clicking file menu and Save As appears as an option. This has been true for several OS versions, since Apple made the idiotic decision to remove Save as from the file menu.

    To Print, Command P brings up the print dialog window in any application.

    Reply
    • Kumar says: November 14, 2018 at 12:14 pm

      This is about returning the simple keystroke for Save As, not needing option modifiers. As you said yourself, Apple made a ill-conceived decision to remove that keystroke and turn it into a more complex one. So why is this over complicating to return the simpler functionality for a keystroke that is obviously popular, and desirable? I want simple, this is simple.

      Reply
      • no way says: November 15, 2018 at 5:59 am

        No, this is complicated, holding Option while selecting file-save as, is far, far simpler.

        Reply
        • yeah, that dude says: November 15, 2018 at 11:26 am

          Nuh uh. What if the user only has one hand? Creating the shortcut is the best way to go!

          Reply
15. david watts says: November 14, 2018 at 4:25 am

    “ “Save As” used to be a default option in the Mac OS ‘File’ menu but now it’s hidden by default.” 

    When I first discovered this head scratcher of a change, a few OS’s ago, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why it had been done. I still can’t fathom what improvement it signalled. To be honest, it marked the first of an accumulating series of reasons to find more and more fault with Apple’s OS laptop-based support.

    Reply
    • At0micMac says: November 16, 2018 at 6:00 pm

      I think they’re trying to dumb down the OS. Kind of like iOS.

      Reply
16. Steve Steele says: November 14, 2018 at 12:57 am

    I never liked that Apple replaced “Save as..” with “Duplicate”. It makes for an awkward workflow, IMO. I’m used to Oprtion + S now but they could have come up with a “Sequential Save” with user preferences for options on how to name files. But that’s what macros are for I suppose.

    Reply
17. Randy McGehee says: November 13, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    Tried this “save as” add several times. It adds it but when pressing the “shift, command, S” key it does not work and it does not appear in the file menu. This system is running Mojave. If I press the “Shift, command, option, S” key it does work. But I cannot get it to change the shortcut and work.

    Reply
    • At0micMac says: November 16, 2018 at 5:59 pm

      It needs to be typed exactly: “Save As…” (proper capitalization as well as the three periods)

      Reply
      • Holly says: May 29, 2019 at 5:47 am

        I can’t get it to appear in the file menu either. Mac Mojave. And I promise I have typed it exactly as written: Save As… (I’m a copyeditor, so I’m a stickler. And this is really giving me fits because I need to save the book I’m working on in Word!) Thanks for any more suggestions you can offer.

        Reply
        • OTI says: May 29, 2019 at 11:35 am

          Hold down OPTION and SHIFT as you pull down the ‘File’ menu and you’ll see exactly how “Save As” is typed on your Mac, then type it like that exactly.

          For me, on US Mac with US English keyboard, it’s “Save As…” with three periods.

          Reply
18. Tom D says: November 13, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    These instructions were to allow me to add “Save As…” to the File Menu using Command-Shift-S, however on my File Menu that was already used for “Duplicate” which is basically the same thing, so in order to get “Save As…” on the menu I used Command-Shift-R and then “Save As…” showed up in the File Menu. Glad to see this back.

    Reply
19. Robert S Smith says: November 13, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    Is there keyboard shortcut for shutting down the computer?

    Reply
    • Patrick says: November 14, 2018 at 5:36 pm

      You can create a keyboard shortcut, though you would have to use it under Finder.app.

      System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts > +

      Application: Finder.app Menu Title: Shut Down… Keyboard Shortcut: whatever you want to use

      Reply
20. Jeffrey Martin says: November 13, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    Please, please, please include a “Print” button on this type of article. It’s far to detailed for an old brain like mine to read and remember while following each step. And also, please set it up so that only the actual article is printed. Thanks for your understanding.

    Reply
    • Martin says: November 16, 2018 at 4:02 pm

      Jeffrey

      If you are using Safari on a Mac then click on the ‘Show Reader View’ icon on the left hand side of the address bar. That will show the article alone.

      Then Print.

      Reply
21. Prescott says: November 13, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    This remains one of the dumbest changes Apple has made. Always one of the first things I do after a clean install or OS update. Right up there with turning off Flick Panning in Photoshop.

    With every new OS I get more and more sick of Apple’s “courage.” Great to chip away and get our system back.

    Reply
22. Old Coot says: November 13, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    I liked that. I wondered where Apple hid it. What about when you open up Preview. A window opens whereas a few OS’s ago they never did. I would like to get rid of it.

    Reply
    • Patrick says: November 14, 2018 at 5:30 pm

      System Preferences > iCloud > click on Options next to iCloud Drive, deselect Preview.app.

      Reply
23. Goateed Geek says: November 13, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    Great tip Paul I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days. Are you a mind reader now? ;-)

    Reply

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