Skyrim Special Edition: How To Transfer Your Old Save Files on PC

Everyone that owns The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and all of its DLC, gets the Skyrim Special Edition totally free on Steam. It isn’t a replacement either, the Special Edition installs to a new folder. That means that, seemingly, your old save files don’t transfer. Well — as it turns out, all your old Skyrim saves should be 100% compatible with the Special Edition. All you have to do is transfer the files from one folder to another.

We’ve got all the super simple instructions below. It’s strange Bethesda is making us do this manually, but if you’ve ever tinkered around with installation folders, this shouldn’t be a problem to navigate at all. There’s no real way to ruin your installation — although any save files that require mods might cause problems. Get all the details below.

How To Transfer Your Old Save Files on PC

To make the transfer process easier, start Skyrim Special Edition and save. This will create a save folder in your installation files — you can still transfer files, but now you won’t need to create a “saves” folder.

The Skyrim Special Edition, when installed, does not replace your previous installation of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. It installs to a completely separate folder. Your save files still work in the new version, all you have to do is move them to the new file folder.

• Where to Find Your Old Skyrim Save Files:
  • Navigate to: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\My Games\skyrim\saves

Select all files in this folder, or simple Copy/Paste the folder into the new Skyrim: Special Edition folder. Here’s how to do that.

• How to Transfer Your Old Save Files to the Special Edition:
  • Copy / Past the original Skyrim save files into the Special Edition saves folder.
  • Navigate To: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\saves

Alternatively,  if there is no “saves” folder for Skyrim Special Edition, create a new folder. Make sure to call it “saves” without the quotation marks.

The original Skyrim save files are completely compatible with Skyrim Special Edition. If you installed mods and made saves, certain mods may cause issues — make sure to install any mods required for your save files.