Duplicate file save at end of session?

[sandy4042]

When I'm done with a Turbo Tax session I click on File then Save to ensure my changes are saved.  However when I then immediately select Exit (the program) it asks me if I want to save the file before exiting. Am I duplicating my effort here, can I just do one or the other and my changes will be saved?  I've noticed in my Turbotax file there are two copies, one with the tilda and one without.  Have I actually been creating two copies by my saving twice?

[tagteam]

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@sandy4042 wrote:

......Have I actually been creating two copies by my saving twice?

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Actually, the answer is "Yes" and that is typical behavior for the program.

[sandy4042]

So what do you do at end of session...skip the File, Save part and simply select Exit, and Save before closing?

Occasionally I will pause and do File, Save if I've been entering a lot of data, but maybe that is more of a need if you are working with an online version of Turbotax rather than desktop version, though if you had a power outage, you'd want to have saved for the latter.

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

@sandy4042 

It actually makes no difference and I would definitely recommend periodically saving your .tax file during sessions for the same reason you mentioned (as well as others such as an unexpected reboot or some similar anomaly).

Note that you can almost always delete the file that is preceded by the tilde (ensure, of course, that your primary .tax file is present before doing so).

[sandy4042]

Thanks.  Do you know if when you start up a session, does Turbotax pull in the tilda file or the other file?  When I complete my taxes for the year I do save the non-tilda data file on a flash drive as my final copy, as well as the final PDF.

One last question that occurred to me, when you e-file do the taxing authorities (Fed and state) get your PDF or do they get the data file?