# Replacement for the 'Save' Icon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469 "2009-09-09T20:38:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/1 "2009-09-09T20:38:47Z")
Virtually every software application I use has a toolbar icon like a Diskette to represent the "Save’ function. But diskettes aren’t used much anymore. Has anyone seen something else (other than the word ‘Save’) used for this? The only thing remotely similar I can think of is that Windows used to use an icon of a File Cabinet to represent the “File Manager” feature. I write applications occasionally and it would be useful/interesting to know. Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/2 "2009-09-09T20:43:49Z")
I don’t know what might replace it. What does a hard drive look like? ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/3 "2009-09-09T20:59:05Z")
I don’t have an answer for the OP, but it occurred to me that this icon might \*not \* change, and sometime, 20-30 years down the road, that’s all it will be known for. And someone will post to this board (or whatever comparable thing exists then) – “what are the series of squares on the Save Icon supposed to represent?” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/4 "2009-09-09T20:59:38Z")
I’m not sure it needs replacing - it’s an icon that has come to mean ‘save’, now quite independently of the fact that is represents a physical storage medium. Much like the [UK road sign for traffic enforcement cameras](http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/general/coll_newroadsignsandmarkingsleaf/dft_roads_022863-17.jpg) represents something most people have probably only seen in vintage films, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/5 "2009-09-09T21:02:35Z")
And how many people still dial a phone? But it works, and we still use it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/6 "2009-09-09T21:12:23Z")
Phone icons have pretty much kept up with the times though (or maybe trailed about ten years behind). There are push-button phone icons and icons with push buttons on a blocky handset, and mobile phone icons (admittedly, they look like 1980s cellphones, mostly). ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/7 "2009-09-09T23:10:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Much like the [UK road sign for traffic enforcement cameras](http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/general/coll_newroadsignsandmarkingsleaf/dft_roads_022863-17.jpg) represents something most people have probably only seen in vintage films, if at all. Whoa. If you didn’t say so, I wouldn’t have known what that was. Some sort of RF transponder for a toll booth? A special gas station? “Camera” would’ve been very low on the list… > [@UncleFred](#): > > Has anyone seen something else (other than the word ‘Save’) used for this? I’ve seen a “down arrow into folder” icon, like [this one](http://www.nitrodesign.com/designforlife/?p=20). Also, manual saves are rather old-school… can the program provide background autosaves with unlimited undos? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/8 "2009-09-09T23:37:58Z")
Even though not technically correct, the [database icon](http://homeoinst.org/images/database_icon.jpg) would probably be a good fit. Kinda looks like a drive array. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/9 "2009-09-09T23:44:57Z")
NeoOffice has already moved away from the diskette. The “save” button is an oblongish box, similar to the icon OSX uses for a mounted non-internal drive. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/10 "2009-09-10T01:00:04Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Whoa. If you didn’t say so, I wouldn’t have known what that was. Some sort of RF transponder for a toll booth? A special gas station? “Camera” would’ve been very low on the list… Yes. I mean, everyone here knows what it means because the price of not knowing that means ‘camera’ is a possible speeding ticket. It’s meant to be a representation of something like this: [![](http://www.vintagephoto.tv/images/seneca3.jpg) ](http://www.vintagephoto.tv/images/seneca3.jpg) Cameras similar to that are still in use by specialist photographers, but they’re just not common - and were not common even when the sign was designed. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/11 "2009-09-10T01:07:57Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > I don’t know what might replace it. What does a hard drive look like? [![](http://www.usbyte.com/images/HDD_3.htm_txt_hard_drive2.gif) ](http://www.usbyte.com/images/HDD_3.htm_txt_hard_drive2.gif) Of course by the time they get around to changing that, the technology may be obsolete as well. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/12 "2009-09-10T05:51:28Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > [http://www.usbyte.com/images/HDD\_3.htm\_txt\_hard\_drive2.gif](http://www.usbyte.com/images/HDD_3.htm_txt_hard_drive2.gif) > > Of course by the time they get around to changing that, the technology may be obsolete as well. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/13 "2009-09-10T12:41:03Z")
hijacking merrily along … I’ve wondered how much longer we’re going to use this [http://cgi.ebay.ph/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=190318381541](http://cgi.ebay.ph/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=190318381541) as the icon for a fire truck? (For non-US types, that’s a pic of the US-standard road sign indicating that a fire station is nearby and you should be on the lookout for fire trucks pulling in or out) Fire engines haven’t looked like that since the 1930s or 40s. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/14 "2009-09-10T13:18:47Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I’ve seen a “down arrow into folder” icon, like [this one](http://www.nitrodesign.com/designforlife/?p=20). Also, manual saves are rather old-school… can the program provide background autosaves with unlimited undos? I vaguely recall seeing that kind of icon somewhere, too. Though (after checking ) it wasn’t WordPerfect, Word or OpenOffice, which are all still (3.5inch) “floppy” drive icons. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/15 "2009-09-10T13:43:56Z")
We spent 4000 years developing written language, and in one generation we’ve gone back to drawing pictures. Not sure this is progress. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/16 "2009-09-10T13:53:48Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > We spent 4000 years developing written language, and in one generation we’ve gone back to drawing pictures. Not sure this is progress. There’s a lot of written code behind that little button. Probably about 4000 years worth. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/17 "2009-09-10T14:04:59Z")
I’d love to know when the speed camera sign was designed. I mean, surely they didn’t use speed cameras in the days when a logo designer would think that looked like a camera. Generally, road signs seem to “freeze” what an item looked like when they were designed, which is why the cars on UK road signs look like [1960s Austins](http://www.spp.uk.com/images/140%20-%20quayside.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/18 "2009-09-10T23:14:19Z")
I propose that from now on we use a little cloud with holy light coming down and tiny Christians ascending rapturously. ---
**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/19 "2009-09-10T23:24:29Z")
They should make it a skull and crossbones. To remind everyone it’ll crash just as you’re about to save. ¬\_¬ ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469/20 "2009-09-11T06:36:26Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > Virtually every software application I use has a toolbar icon like a Diskette to represent the "Save’ function., Very few programs that I use are so toolbar intensive that they actually have a save icon. Usually this is left for the main menu bar in text form and keyboard shortcuts. I think having GUIs with a save icon will die out long before we need to worry about recognizing a disk. In any case, the disk could easily be made to look like a memory/flashcard without much modification, or as other have mentioned, the folder with down arrow. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-for-the-save-icon/509469.md?page=2)