---
title: "autosave(withImplicitCancellability:completionHandler:)"
framework: appkit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: "appkit/nsdocument/autosave(withimplicitcancellability:completionhandler:)"
---

# autosave(withImplicitCancellability:completionHandler:)

Autosaves the document’s contents to an appropriate file-system location, as needed.

## Declaration

```swift
func autosave(withImplicitCancellability autosavingIsImplicitlyCancellable: Bool, completionHandler: @escaping ((any Error)?) -> Void)
```

```swift
func autosave(withImplicitCancellability autosavingIsImplicitlyCancellable: Bool) async throws
```

## Parameters

- `autosavingIsImplicitlyCancellable`: The value in the doc://com.apple.appkit/documentation/AppKit/NSDocument/autosavingIsImplicitlyCancellable property while autosaving is happening.
- `completionHandler`: The completion handler block object passed in to be invoked at some point in the future, perhaps after the method invocation has returned. The completion handler must be invoked on the main thread. The block takes one argument:

## Discussion

Discussion The default implementation of this method does the following: Checks the value of the hasUnautosavedChanges property. If the value of that property is false, the method runs the completion handler with a nil error and returns immediately. If the value is true, calls autosavesInPlace on the class to determine where the autosaved document contents should go. The method also gets the value in fileURL to ensure that the file has an actual URL, because it is not possible to autosave in place if the document does not yet have a permanent location. 3. Checks the value in the autosavingFileType property to determine the file type for the autosaved file. 4. Calls save(to:ofType:for:completionHandler:). The value of the saveToURL parameter is the location where the file should be saved. If the file has a URL and the class specifies that autosave should occur in place, this is the URL of the file. Otherwise, this is the location of a nonexistent file in the specified autosave location. The value for the ofType parameter is determined by a call to autosavingFileType. The value of the forSaveOperation parameter is NSAutosaveInPlaceOperation if the class is configured to autosave in place and the file has a URL. Otherwise, the value is NSAutosaveElsewhereOperation.

## See Also

### Autosaving the Document

- [checkAutosavingSafety()](appkit/nsdocument/checkautosavingsafety().md)
- [hasUnautosavedChanges](appkit/nsdocument/hasunautosavedchanges.md)
- [scheduleAutosaving()](appkit/nsdocument/scheduleautosaving().md)
- [autosave(withDelegate:didAutosave:contextInfo:)](appkit/nsdocument/autosave(withdelegate:didautosave:contextinfo:).md)
- [backupFileURL](appkit/nsdocument/backupfileurl.md)