# Saving and Opening Design Files

Learn how to save and open design files in Spread Designer using XML and BIFF-compatible formats. Find detailed instructions for saving and opening files from the File menu.

## Content



When you have finished designing a Spread, you can save the file to either a Spread XML file or a BIFF-compatible file. From the **File** menu, select **Save** or **Save As New** and specify a file name and location.

To open an existing file, from the **File** menu, select **Open** and select the file from the **File** dialog, or select a file under the **Recent Documents** section.

For saving Spread Designer to an XML file, the Spread element contains these elements

*   Data
*   Drawing
*   Presentation
*   Settings
*   Style

For more information on the save and open options from the **File** menu, refer to [File Menu](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-iface/spwin-spd-menus/spwin-spd-menu-file).

For details of what is exported to the BIFF-compatible file, refer to the [Import and Export Reference](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-impexpref).

If you are using Spread Designer as a stand-alone application, you can save your work to a file before closing Spread Designer. To best preserve all the settings you have created in Spread Designer, save to a Spread XML file when using Spread Designer stand alone.

For information on saving and loading files in general, refer to the [Managing File Operations](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-usefiles) in the Developer’s Guide.

For more tasks in Spread Designer, return to [Working with the Design](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-using).

## See Also

[Resetting and Clearing Design Work](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-using/spwin-spd-revrschange)

[Printing a Sheet from Spread Designer](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-using/spwin-spd-printsheet)

[Previewing a Sheet in Spread Designer](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-using/spwin-spd-previewsheet)

[Applying the Design to the Form](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-designerguide/spwin-spd-using/spwin-spd-applychange)