Questions: Creating, Saving & Opening Files

Question 1

You spend two hours typing a report in a word processor. Before saving, your computer crashes. What happens to your work?

• A. It is automatically recovered the next time you open the application
• B. Everything you typed is lost, because it existed only in RAM and was never written to disk
• C. Only the last few minutes of work are lost; the rest was preserved periodically
• D. The file is stored temporarily and recoverable within 24 hours

Answer: (B)

Until you explicitly save, your work lives only in RAM — a fast, temporary workspace erased when the computer loses power or the program closes. Without a save, nothing was ever written to disk. Some applications have autosave features, but these cannot be relied upon universally, especially after a crash. The only guaranteed protection is saving manually and frequently.

Question 2

You open a document, make extensive edits, then use 'Save As' with a new filename in the same folder. What is the state of the original file?

• A. It is deleted and replaced by the new file
• B. It is unchanged — 'Save As' creates a new copy with the new name, leaving the original untouched
• C. It is merged with the new file into a combined document
• D. It is moved to the Recycle Bin automatically

Answer: (B)

'Save As' saves a copy of the current state of the document under a new name or location, leaving the original file unchanged at its original name and location. This is useful for creating variations without overwriting your current version. Only a direct 'Save' (Ctrl+S) overwrites the file you opened.

Question 3

Once you save a file for the first time, most future changes are automatically preserved each time you close the program.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

The first save establishes the file's name and location on disk. But every change you make afterward exists only in RAM until you save again. Closing the program or losing power after making changes — without saving again — discards all changes made since the last save. You must explicitly save after every significant change you want to keep.

Question 4

Work stored in RAM is temporary: it will be lost if the computer loses power before the file is saved to disk.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

RAM (random access memory) is a fast but volatile workspace — it holds the data you are currently working with, but it is erased the moment power is interrupted or the program closes. Saving copies that data from RAM to permanent storage (hard drive, SSD, or cloud), where it persists after power loss. This is the fundamental reason saving frequently matters.

Question 5

Why does saving a file repeatedly throughout a work session matter, even after you've already saved it once?

Model answer: Each save writes the current state of the document to disk. Any changes made after the last save exist only in RAM and will be lost if the program crashes or the computer loses power. Saving frequently ensures that the amount of work you could lose at any moment is small.

The file on disk only ever reflects the state it was in at your last save. If you saved once at the beginning of a 2-hour session and then the power goes out, you lose nearly all of your work. Frequent saves reduce that window of vulnerability to seconds or minutes rather than hours.