This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Kate Kaplan
Summary: Users still recognize the floppy disk icon as ‘save,’ but evolving workflows mean it may no longer be the clearest or most appropriate choice in many cases.
The floppy disk icon has long outlasted the hardware it represents. Many users today have never held a floppy disk, let alone saved a file to one, yet the icon continues to appear in some software as a way to represent saving, especially enterprise systems.
Its persistence despite its antiquity raises the question: Do people still understand the floppy disk represents “save”? Most do, even without firsthand experience of floppy disks. But saving today often involves cloud-syncing, auto-saving, or exporting rather than local storage. The floppy disk icon, while still understandable, may not always be the most appropriate symbol for many nuanced saving contexts.
Then: The Floppy Disk Icon Was a Clear Metaphor
When the floppy disk icon first appeared in digital interfaces, it was a resemblance icon — a direct visual representation of the object it referred to. This was a typical strategy for icons introduced in the first graphical user interfaces. Trash cans, file folders, calculators, printers, and floppy disks all mirrored physical items people already knew, and thus made the then-unfamiliar action of clicking icons to launch actions or programs more understandable.
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This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Kate Kaplan
Kate Kaplan | Sciencx (2025-07-04T17:00:00+00:00) The Floppy Disk Icon as “Save:” Still Appropriate Today?. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/07/04/the-floppy-disk-icon-as-save-still-appropriate-today/
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