How to manually save edits in lightroom?

I am using Lightroom 4.1. I have search the Internet and I cannot find how I can manually save edits made to a photo. I can see sometimes the little cloud in the top right corner syncing but is there a manual way to sync/save edits?

Last photo I edited did not save the settings. I did see the blue circle around the cloud which to me indicates syncing/synced. I closed lightroom and later when I go back in the edits are gone. Just the original raw file.

Thank you.