The Default Folder X Preference Pane

Once you've finished installing Default Folder X, it is accessible in the System Preferences application along with the other system-wide settings for your Macintosh. Choose System Preferences from the Dock or the Apple menu. When the preferences window appears, select Default Folder X and you will see the following window:

Click the "On" button to enable Default Folder X's features. You will probably want it to be turned on automatically after you log out or restart your Mac, so turn on the "Enable at Login" checkbox as well. You are now ready to begin using Default Folder X in your file dialogs. The basics are explained in the next section, entitled Default Folder X in Open and Save Dialogs. More details about Default Folder X's various features are included in the Settings section.

The various controls in the main Default Folder X preference pane do the following:

• About...: Displays information about Default Folder X.

• Check for Updates: Connects to St. Clair Software's servers to see if there is a newer version of Default Folder X available. You can also have Default Folder X do this for you automatically by turning on the "Automatically check for updates" option in the Advanced tab of your settings.

• Register...: Allows you to purchase a license for Default Folder X or enter your registration code once you have made your purchase. If you lose your registration code, visit our web site at http://www.stclairsoft.com/ and click on the "Support" button. There, you will find an online form for requesting that we send your code to you again.

• Settings...: Many of Default Folder X's features and options are controlled from the Settings window. See the separate Settings section in this document for complete details.

• Folder Set: This menu allows you to create, select and manage "folder sets." A folder set is Default Folder X's way of grouping your default, favorite, and recently used folders for you. You can switch between folder sets at any time to help manage your work. You can, for example, keep one list of Favorite folders for use when you work on your latest novel, while using another set of Favorites when you're managing your web site. Just set up multiple folder sets and add the folders you want to each of them. Then, when you want to switch between them, select the appropriate one in Default Folder X's preferences, in the Default Folder X toolbar within Open and Save dialogs, or from the Default Folder X menu in the Dock.

• Default Folders: Default Folder X lets you set up a default folder for each application. Every time you start up that application, Default Folder X will make certain that the first file dialog you see when you choose Open or Save will display the contents of that application's default folder. For subsequent Open or Save dialogs, Default Folder X will let application do as it wishes, because the application should know what is most logical for its purposes once you've started in your default folder.

  Use the "Add Application...", "Remove Application...", and "Change Folder..." buttons at the bottom of the tab to add applications to the list and assign default folders to them.

  Tip: If the application always goes back to your Documents folder or some other place, simply press option-down-arrow in the file dialog. This will make Default Folder X take you back to the folder you last visited.

• Favorite Folders: Default Folder makes your favorite folders accessible from Open and Save dialogs, and also allows you to attach hotkeys to them to immediately jump to particular Favorites that you use frequently.

  Use the "Add Folder...", "Remove Folder...", and "Set Hotkey..." buttons at the bottom of the tab to add folders to the list and assign hotkeys to them.

• Tell a Friend: Use this button if you want to tell a friend about Default Folder X. It creates an email for you in your default email application (such as Apple's Mail), composes a simple message, and leaves it open for you to finish and add your friend's email address.