Save icon (floppy disk)

How to read it

Software of the graphical-interface era began to show the act of saving with a picture of a floppy disk because so many people stored their files on floppies in the 1980s and 1990s, the technology historian Benj Edwards wrote in How-To Geek in 2021, and programs such as Microsoft Word and Paint still use it. The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s Be Connected icon guide labels the floppy disk “Save”, and Google’s Material icon set names its floppy-disk icon save.

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Why is the save icon a floppy disk?

Because floppy disks were where people saved their work when graphical software was designed. IBM shipped the first floppy disk drive, the 8-inch 23FD “Minnow”, in 1971; its read-only disks held 80 KB, about 3,000 punched cards, the Computer History Museum records. Shugart Associates brought out the 5.25-inch floppy in 1976, and in 1983 several companies shipped 3.5-inch disks based on a Sony design. Sony announced in 2010 that it would stop making floppy disks in March 2011.

Do people still recognise it?

Edwards notes that the icon has drawn criticism because many people using computers today didn’t grow up with floppy disks. He also notes that younger users have probably learned that it means save even if they don’t know where it came from.