is an option to Manipulate and related functions that specifies whether current definitions relevant for the evaluation of the expression being manipulated should automatically be saved.


SaveDefinitions
is an option to Manipulate and related functions that specifies whether current definitions relevant for the evaluation of the expression being manipulated should automatically be saved.
Details

- With SaveDefinitions->True, Manipulate saves the current assignments for every symbol in the Manipulate, and also saves subsidiary definitions using the same mechanism as Save.
- SaveDefinitions->True will not save definitions for symbols with the attribute Protected or ReadProtected.
- SaveDefinitions->True prepends any definitions it finds to the Initialization option setting.
Examples
open all close allBasic Examples (3)
By default, definitions are not saved:
Force definitions to be saved with the output:
The saved Manipulate can be copied and directly run in a new notebook:
Scope (1)
All definitions are saved, including OwnValues:
Properties & Relations (3)
Definitions are transformed to a literal Initialization setting during typesetting:
SaveDefinitions->True relies on FullDefinition to extract definitions:
Symbols that are Protected or ReadProtected will not be saved:
Possible Issues (3)
Definitions for any unprotected symbol in the Manipulate body will be saved:
Saved variable definitions are effectively treated as global:
This can have an impact on future kernel sessions:
Multiple Manipulate outputs defining the same global variable may conflict:
Related Guides
Related Workflows
- Build a Manipulate
History
Text
Wolfram Research (2007), SaveDefinitions, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SaveDefinitions.html.
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2007. "SaveDefinitions." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SaveDefinitions.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2007). SaveDefinitions. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SaveDefinitions.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_savedefinitions, author="Wolfram Research", title="{SaveDefinitions}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SaveDefinitions.html}", note=[Accessed: 08-August-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_savedefinitions, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={SaveDefinitions}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SaveDefinitions.html}, note=[Accessed: 08-August-2025]}