diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bbe3c82e58..fb9e2a944b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Scanpy outfiles
 /data/
 /write/
+/figures/
 
 # Docs
 /docs/_build/
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/3675.docs.md b/docs/release-notes/3675.docs.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a03f10dcc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/release-notes/3675.docs.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Update tutorial {doc}`/tutorials/experimental/dask` for {mod}`anndata` 0.12 (see {pr}`scverse/scanpy-tutorials#186`) {smaller}`I Gold`
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/3675.misc.md b/docs/release-notes/3675.misc.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..31eb4535c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/release-notes/3675.misc.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Deprecate `save` parameter of plotting functions. {smaller}`zethson`
diff --git a/notebooks b/notebooks
index 897eef59b9..e67ca1796d 160000
--- a/notebooks
+++ b/notebooks
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 897eef59b945f88f9c86715656286796eea43853
+Subproject commit e67ca1796d3b9b244ca2a0086bd1157ea5ca8337
diff --git a/src/scanpy/_settings/__init__.py b/src/scanpy/_settings/__init__.py
index 8c2ddfaed1..1553f85766 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/_settings/__init__.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/_settings/__init__.py
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ def datasetdir(cls, datasetdir: Path | str) -> None:
 
     @property
     def figdir(cls) -> Path:
-        """Directory for saving figures (default `'./figures/'`)."""
+        r"""Directory for `autosave`\ ing figures (default `'./figures/'`)."""
         return cls._figdir
 
     @figdir.setter
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_anndata.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_anndata.py
index f78f437989..5f0f27f035 100755
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_anndata.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_anndata.py
@@ -145,8 +145,9 @@ def scatter(  # noqa: PLR0913
     marker: str | Sequence[str] = ".",
     title: str | Collection[str] | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: str | bool | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
+    # deprecated
+    save: str | bool | None = None,
 ) -> Axes | list[Axes] | None:
     """Scatter plot along observations or variables axes.
 
@@ -750,9 +751,9 @@ def violin(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     ylabel: str | Sequence[str] | None = None,
     rotation: float | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
-    # deprecatd
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
     scale: DensityNorm | Empty = _empty,
     **kwds,
 ) -> Axes | FacetGrid | None:
@@ -1007,7 +1008,7 @@ def clustermap(
     *,
     use_raw: bool | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
+    save: bool | str | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ) -> ClusterGrid | None:
     """Hierarchically-clustered heatmap.
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_docs.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_docs.py
index 55c4c690c7..0f5f43f049 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_docs.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_docs.py
@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@
 save
     If `True` or a `str`, save the figure.
     A string is appended to the default filename.
-    Infer the filetype if ending on {`'.pdf'`, `'.png'`, `'.svg'`}.\
+    Infer the filetype if ending on {`'.pdf'`, `'.png'`, `'.svg'`}.
+    (deprecated in favour of `sc.pl.plot(show=False).figure.savefig()`).\
 """
 
 doc_show_save_ax = f"""\
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_preprocessing.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_preprocessing.py
index fdcdb8ae71..60356757e6 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_preprocessing.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_preprocessing.py
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ def highly_variable_genes(  # noqa: PLR0912
     *,
     log: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     highly_variable_genes: bool = True,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Plot dispersions or normalized variance versus means for genes.
 
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ def filter_genes_dispersion(
     *,
     log: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
+    # deprecated
     save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Plot dispersions versus means for genes.
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_stacked_violin.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_stacked_violin.py
index 4063f0fe10..7e84409913 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_stacked_violin.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_stacked_violin.py
@@ -682,7 +682,6 @@ def stacked_violin(  # noqa: PLR0913
     categories_order: Sequence[str] | None = None,
     swap_axes: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     return_fig: bool | None = False,
     ax: _AxesSubplot | None = None,
     vmin: float | None = None,
@@ -700,6 +699,7 @@ def stacked_violin(  # noqa: PLR0913
     # deprecated
     order: Sequence[str] | None | Empty = _empty,
     scale: DensityNorm | Empty = _empty,
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
     **kwds,
 ) -> StackedViolin | dict | None:
     """Stacked violin plots.
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/__init__.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/__init__.py
index df09481c8d..13b74fc636 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/__init__.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/__init__.py
@@ -188,6 +188,7 @@ def pca_variance_ratio(
     *,
     log: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
+    # deprecated
     save: bool | str | None = None,
 ):
     """Plot the variance ratio.
@@ -230,9 +231,10 @@ def dpt_timeseries(
     *,
     color_map: str | Colormap | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     as_heatmap: bool = True,
     marker: str | Sequence[str] = ".",
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | None = None,
 ):
     """Heatmap of pseudotime series.
 
@@ -277,9 +279,10 @@ def dpt_groups_pseudotime(
     color_map: str | Colormap | None = None,
     palette: Sequence[str] | Cycler | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     marker: str | Sequence[str] = ".",
     return_fig: bool = False,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> Figure | None:
     """Plot groups and pseudotime.
 
@@ -349,8 +352,8 @@ def rank_genes_groups(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     ncols: int = 4,
     sharey: bool = True,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ) -> list[Axes] | None:
     """Plot ranking of genes.
@@ -503,7 +506,12 @@ def rank_genes_groups(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
 
 
 def _fig_show_save_or_axes(
-    plot_obj: BasePlot, *, return_fig: bool, show: bool | None, save: bool | None
+    plot_obj: BasePlot,
+    *,
+    return_fig: bool,
+    show: bool | None,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | None,
 ):
     """Decides what to return."""
     if return_fig:
@@ -528,9 +536,9 @@ def _rank_genes_groups_plot(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool = False,
     gene_symbols: str | None = None,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Call the different `rank_genes_groups_*` plots."""
@@ -703,7 +711,7 @@ def rank_genes_groups_heatmap(
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes using heatmap plot (see :func:`~scanpy.pl.heatmap`).
@@ -786,7 +794,7 @@ def rank_genes_groups_tracksplot(
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes using heatmap plot (see :func:`~scanpy.pl.heatmap`).
@@ -863,8 +871,8 @@ def rank_genes_groups_dotplot(  # noqa: PLR0913
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool = False,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes using dotplot plot (see :func:`~scanpy.pl.dotplot`).
@@ -1002,8 +1010,8 @@ def rank_genes_groups_stacked_violin(  # noqa: PLR0913
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool = False,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes using stacked_violin plot.
@@ -1090,8 +1098,8 @@ def rank_genes_groups_matrixplot(  # noqa: PLR0913
     min_logfoldchange: float | None = None,
     key: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool = False,
+    save: bool | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwds,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes using matrixplot plot (see :func:`~scanpy.pl.matrixplot`).
@@ -1230,8 +1238,8 @@ def rank_genes_groups_violin(  # noqa: PLR0913
     size: int = 1,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | None = None,
     # deprecated
+    save: bool | None = None,
     scale: DensityNorm | Empty = _empty,
 ):
     """Plot ranking of genes for all tested comparisons.
@@ -1348,8 +1356,9 @@ def sim(
     as_heatmap: bool = False,
     shuffle: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     marker: str | Sequence[str] = ".",
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Plot results of simulation.
 
@@ -1456,9 +1465,9 @@ def embedding_density(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     wspace: None = None,
     title: str | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
     return_fig: bool | None = None,
+    save: bool | str | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwargs,
 ) -> Figure | Axes | None:
     """Plot the density of cells in an embedding (per condition).
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/paga.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/paga.py
index 5af2e50a52..5435ee08fd 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/paga.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/paga.py
@@ -341,8 +341,9 @@ def paga(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     groups=None,  # backwards compat
     plot: bool = True,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> Axes | list[Axes] | None:
     r"""Plot the PAGA graph through thresholding low-connectivity edges.
 
@@ -1068,8 +1069,9 @@ def paga_path(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     as_heatmap: bool = True,
     return_data: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> tuple[Axes, pd.DataFrame] | Axes | pd.DataFrame | None:
     r"""Gene expression and annotation changes along paths in the abstracted graph.
 
@@ -1360,6 +1362,7 @@ def paga_adjacency(
     as_heatmap: bool = True,
     color_map: str | Colormap | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
+    # deprecated
     save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Plot connectivity of paga groups."""
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/scatterplots.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/scatterplots.py
index cf172caf73..2b7f71b984 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/scatterplots.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_tools/scatterplots.py
@@ -113,10 +113,10 @@ def embedding(  # noqa: PLR0912, PLR0913, PLR0915
     wspace: float | None = None,
     title: str | Sequence[str] | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
     return_fig: bool | None = None,
     marker: str | Sequence[str] = ".",
+    save: bool | str | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwargs,
 ) -> Figure | Axes | list[Axes] | None:
     """Scatter plot for user specified embedding basis (e.g. umap, pca, etc).
@@ -837,7 +837,7 @@ def pca(
     annotate_var_explained: bool = False,
     show: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
+    save: bool | str | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwargs,
 ) -> Figure | Axes | list[Axes] | None:
     """Scatter plot in PCA coordinates.
@@ -953,7 +953,7 @@ def spatial(  # noqa: PLR0913
     na_color: ColorLike | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
     return_fig: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
+    save: bool | str | None = None,  # deprecated
     **kwargs,
 ) -> Figure | Axes | list[Axes] | None:
     """Scatter plot in spatial coordinates.
diff --git a/src/scanpy/plotting/_utils.py b/src/scanpy/plotting/_utils.py
index 23b7c1835a..55d5da0e9f 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/plotting/_utils.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/plotting/_utils.py
@@ -94,8 +94,9 @@ def matrix(  # noqa: PLR0913
     colorbar_shrink: float = 0.5,
     color_map: str | Colormap | None = None,
     show: bool | None = None,
-    save: bool | str | None = None,
     ax: Axes | None = None,
+    # deprecated
+    save: bool | str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Plot a matrix."""
     if ax is None:
@@ -341,13 +342,17 @@ def savefig_or_show(
         # append it
         writekey += save
         save = True
-    save = settings.autosave if save is None else save
-    show = settings.autoshow if show is None else show
-    if save:
+    if do_save := settings.autosave if save is None else save:
+        if save:  # `save=True | "some-str"` argument has been used
+            msg = (
+                "Argument `save` is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. "
+                "Use `sc.pl.plot(show=False).figure.savefig()` instead."
+            )
+            warnings.warn(msg, category=FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)
         savefig(writekey, dpi=dpi, ext=ext)
-    if show:
+    if settings.autoshow if show is None else show:
         plt.show()
-    if save:
+    if do_save:
         plt.close()  # clear figure
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_plotting_embedded/test_embeddings.py b/tests/test_plotting_embedded/test_embeddings.py
index acfa6f9b06..e8d4331218 100644
--- a/tests/test_plotting_embedded/test_embeddings.py
+++ b/tests/test_plotting_embedded/test_embeddings.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import uuid
 from functools import partial, wraps
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
@@ -251,3 +252,20 @@ def test_embedding_colorbar_location(image_comparer):
     sc.pl.pca(adata, color="LDHB", colorbar_loc=None, show=False)
 
     save_and_compare_images("no_colorbar")
+
+
+def test_raise_save_future_warning(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    adata = pbmc3k_processed()
+
+    unique_id = str(uuid.uuid4())[:8]
+    test_filename = f"test_violin_{unique_id}.png"
+
+    sc.settings.figdir, original_figdir = tmp_path, sc.settings.figdir
+    try:
+        with pytest.warns(FutureWarning, match=r"Argument `save` is deprecated"):
+            sc.pl.violin(adata, keys="louvain", save=test_filename, show=False)
+
+        expected_file = tmp_path / f"violin{test_filename}"
+        assert expected_file.exists(), f"Expected file {expected_file} was not created"
+    finally:
+        sc.settings.figdir = original_figdir