filedialog.asksaveasfile to save data by showing file browser with options in Tkinter

filedialog.asksaveasfile create a modal, native look-and-feel dialog for user to save file in local system. .

from tkinter import filedialog  
from tkinter.filedialog import asksaveasfile

Podcast on Tkinter the Python GUI Development

Displaying save as file browser to Save file in Tkinter window using filedialog asksaveasfilename

Here is the code to open one file browser dialog box and then user has to enter the file name. Sample data ( small string ) will be saved inside the file.

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog
from tkinter.filedialog import asksaveasfile
my_w = tk.Tk()
my_w.geometry("400x300")  # Size of the window 
my_w.title('www.plus2net.com')
my_font1=('times', 18, 'bold')
l1 = tk.Label(my_w,text='Save File',width=30,font=my_font1)  
l1.grid(row=1,column=1)
b1 = tk.Button(my_w, text='Save', 
   width=20,command = lambda:save_file())
b1.grid(row=2,column=1) 
def save_file():
    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
    defaultextension=".txt")
    fob=open(file,'w')
    fob.write("Welcome to plus2net")
    fob.close()
my_w.mainloop()  # Keep the window open

Data is saved in the file

When user cancels the file window

After opening the file browser the user may use the cancel button to close the operation, to handle this we have added the if file: in above code. The else part of the code will display the message.

def save_file():
    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
    defaultextension=".txt")
    if file:  # user selected file
        fob=open(file,'w')
        fob.write("Welcome to plus2net")
        fob.close()
    else: # user cancel the file browser window
        print("No file chosen")

options : initialdir

We can set the initial directory to be show to user by default. User can change to any other location.

file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
    defaultextension=".txt",
    initialdir='D:\\my_data\\my_html\\')

title

Displayed at top left corner as title
title of File Save Browser

    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
    defaultextension=".txt",
    initialdir='D:\\my_data\\my_html\\',
    title='Save as plus2net')

filetypes

Save as types option will list these filetypes.

    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt"),
               ("csv file","*.csv")]),
    defaultextension=".txt",
    initialdir='D:\\my_data\\my_html\\')

defaultextension

The default file extension to append the file name.

    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
    defaultextension=".txt",
    initialdir='D:\\my_data\\my_html\\',
    title='Save as plus2net')

initialfile

We can specify the default or initial file name by using initialfile option.

    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
        defaultextension=".txt",
        initialdir="F:\\data\\",
        initialfile="xyz.txt",
    )

confirmoverwrite

If the file is already available then one confirmation window asking to overwrite the fill will be displayed. This message we can manage and if you don't want to show the dialog box then set the confirmoverwrite to False. By default this value is True ( To display dialog box )

    file = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(
        filetypes=[("txt file", ".txt")],
        defaultextension=".txt",
        initialdir="F:\\data\\",
        initialfile="xyz.txt",
        confirmoverwrite=False,
    )

difference between asksaveasfile() and asksaveasfilename()

The function asksaveasfilename() returns the selected file name. ( path as string ).
The function asksaveasfile() returns the opened file object in given mode. ( mode='w')
In above code both can be used and watch the commented part of the code below for comparison of both functions. In both cases output is same.

def save_file():  
    fob = filedialog.asksaveasfile(defaultextension=".txt", mode='w')  
    # fob = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".txt")  
    # fob=open(fob,'w') # creates file object  
    fob.write("Welcome to plus2net")  
    fob.close()

User Entry box

We will create one user data entry box in the window and on click of the Save button the text entered in the entry box will be saved into one text file using the filedialog.
Save data entered by user in Tkinter window

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Subhendu Mohapatra

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