Save vs. Save As vs. Save Image vs. Export vs. Print 

Save will save the image in the current frame as a FITS file. This can be very useful if the image was originally loaded from a non-local source such as from a URL or via SAMP/XPA. If the current image is a binned event file, users have the choice to save the displayed image with all binning, blocking, and any filtering applied; or they can save the event table. Note: Only the EVENTS block is saved; if the table has additional FITS extensions such as GTI blocks, they are not saved. Annotations such as regions and illustrate mode elements are not saved; neither is the pixel scaling, colormap, etc. Only the raw data are saved.

Save As is like Save but lets the user deconstruct frames. For example, Save As -> Slice will only save the current slice from an n-D image, whereas Save would save the entire n-D image.

Save Image literally takes a screen shot of the image display area of the DS9 application and saves the image exactly as it is being displayed. Note: The DS9 window must be on top of all other windows and fully visible. Only the part of the image currently displayed is saved. The saved image will have all regions, text, illustrate mode elements, and colorbar. The output will be saved in bitmap (PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, even FITS) format or in encapsulated PostScript. Users should use Save Image if they wish to get an exact match of what is being displayed on their screen.

Export applies all the scaling, limits, blocking, and colormap settings to the entire image in the current frame, even parts of the image that are not currently in the display window. The full colorized image is then saved in bitmap format. Export does not save any regions or illustrate elements, nor colorbar. The output image will have the same image axis lengths as the original image. Alternatively, users can export to less-used binary formats (envi, nrrd) used by certain specialty applications.

Print will create a PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript file from the images and frames in the display. Regions (lines) and text are stored as native PostScript vector elements lending themselves to higher resolution reproduction. Users may notice subtle difference in what is being displayed versus what is being rendered in PostScript; especially with fonts. PostScript provides the highest possible resolution output but may not capture the display with What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get accuracy.