While this is largely a terminological convention, Inkscape uses “export” only for the Export Bitmap dialog (18.9.1 The Export Bitmap Dialog) whereas the supported vector formats, including the default Inkscape SVG format, are listed in the Save as type list in the Save, Save As, and Save a Copy dialogs. Since all vector formats except Inkscape SVG lose some editability features or even drop some classes of objects, saving in such a format and trying to close the document will display a warning, as shown in Figure B-1.
If you made any changes after saving a non-SVG file, you may have to Save As into the original SVG file again. To avoid this annoyance, use the Save a Copy command (
), which saves a copy of the document in the format and filename you specify. The document is still considered Inkscape SVG and, if it was not changed after last SVG save, no warning is displayed when it is closed.