macOS Sonoma Beta 3, released yesterday, includes fixes for several bugs I reported to Apple. That allowed me to remove some ugly workarounds and generally make Default Folder X function better. But true to the spirit of beta releases, there’s also a new bug in Sonoma B3 that impacts DFX, so there’s a workaround for that included in 6.0a8 😁
Long story short, if you’re running Sonoma Beta 3, make sure to use Default Folder X 6.0a8. But DON’T use it if you’re still running Sonoma Beta 2, as I’ve removed the ugly code that gets around the bugs in B2.
The latest preview release of Default Folder X 6 offers preliminary support for macOS 14 Sonoma, which Apple made available as a developer preview at WWDC.
Default Folder X 6.0a6 also gives you better management of folder sets. Folder sets are a frequently-missed feature that some users find invaluable when switching between multiple workflows, clients, or projects. Since it’s frequently-missed, these changes won’t excite all Default Folder X users, but I know some of you have been asking for this repeatedly. You can now keep folder sets in whatever order you want, not just sorted alphabetically, and managing them is easy with multi-select and drag-and-drop:
Version 6.0a6 also adds multi-select to Default Folder X’s menu customization dialog, making it quicker to reorganize DFX’s menu in your menu bar, as well as addressing several bugs.
As usual, if you’re already running an earlier preview build of Default Folder X 6, just select “Check for Update” from its menu. If you’re new to Default Folder X 6, you can get more info and grab a copy from the Default Folder X Testing page.
Default Folder X 6.0a4 is available for download. This is another “preview” release, intended for testing and to get your feedback. Like earlier pre-release builds, this one adds a bunch of new features. It’s very stable, so you should be able to just install it and run it as part of your regular workflow. For a quick overview of all of the new features in version 6, see the Default Folder X 6.0 Tour page.
Debuting in 6.0a4 is the ability to customize the menu that Default Folder X puts in your menu bar. You can add, remove and reorder items, as well as putting the contents of any of the submenus (Favorites, Recent Folders, Finder Windows, etc) directly in the top-level menu for quicker access. Click on the “Customize” button in the General tab of the settings to get the editor.
There’s also an experimental option for Finder-click which recognizes items within Finder windows. Turn on this checkbox:
and Finder-click will change the location in file dialogs to the folder you click on, rather than just changing to the folder represented by the Finder window as a whole. In the example below, Finder-click will take you to the “Screenshots” folder that’s currently under the cursor, rather than the Downloads folder.
Of course, this also works when the Finder is in List View or Column View mode.
The reason this feature is still experimental is that I’m concerned that some people will find it confusing, and that even folks who like it may find it unintuitive when the Finder window is hidden behind the window of another app. As you move the mouse around, the folder name displayed by Default Folder X changes as it passes over different folders in the window (which you can’t see). Please try it and let me know your thoughts, positive or negative.
The new Quick Search window shows additional context when you hit the right arrow to search within a folder. The folder’s path is shown below the search field, and there’s a “back” arrow to take you back to your previous search results.
Also, searching for “..” will give you the parent of the folder you’re searching in. We’re getting pretty good at navigating through the filesystem with the keyboard 😉
There are a number of other additions and numerous bug fixes that are all detailed on the Default Folder X Testing page. There are also download links there, or if you’re already running an earlier 6.0 preview, just choose “Check for Update” from its menu in your menu bar to get the latest build.
Version 6.0a3 brings a host of refinements to the new Quick Search feature, including support for non-roman languages and non-English-speaking locales. Searching is also more responsive, user interaction is much smoother – it just works better all around. Please give Quick Search a try and let me know what you think!
I’ve also addressed issues with the synchronization of Default Folder X’s settings between multiple Macs over iCloud. There’s still testing to be done here – mostly in terms of detecting and diagnosing iCloud configuration problems. I’d welcome more people who have an identical (or similar) file and folder structure on two different Macs and want to have your recent and favorite items up-to-date and available on both machines.
6.0a3 also brings bug fixes and support for the beta version of ForkLift 4, and support for older versions of macOS (I’ve tested as far back as Mojave so far, but it should work fine on High Sierra too). A full list of changes is on the Default Folder X Testing page, and you can download it directly here.
A new pre-release build of Default Folder X 6 is available for testing, adding Spotlight search as an option in its Quick Search window.
Quick Search will find files and folders super-fast in your recent and favorite items, but there are some occasions when you’re opening a file you don’t often access. In those cases, press Command+Shift+S and Quick Search will use Spotlight to find things instead. It’s not as fast, and matching file and folder names isn’t as smart, but you’ll be able to open what you want even if Default Folder X hasn’t seen it recently.
This release also smooths the flow of moving around and searching subfolders in Quick Search, refines the icons used in Default Folder X’s toolbar and Quick Search menu, enables Command+Shift+G correctly in Save As dialogs, and addresses other bugs in the previous alpha release.
Details and download links are on the Default Folder X Testing page. If you’re already running an earlier pre-release build of Default Folder X 6, you can just choose “Check for Update” from its menu to download the new build.
Version 6 of Default Folder X is gaining steam! I just posted the first alpha release, meaning it’s close to being feature-complete. There’s now a dedicated page explaining the new features, so I won’t rehash them again here. I do have to say I find the Quick Search feature and expanded filename fields to be essential now that I’ve been using them 😁
I’m pretty excited about this preview release of Default Folder X 6 – it includes two new features that have really boosted productivity for me personally.
First, you can now drag and drop files and folders onto Default Folder X’s icon in your menu bar to copy or move them anywhere. Default Folder X pops up its main menu so you can show it where the dropped items should go. Select a folder from your Favorites, Recent Folders, or anywhere in the filesystem by navigating with DFX’s hierarchical menus. Once you choose a folder, the item is moved or copied, and the destination folder is opened to show you the item’s new location.
Dragging a Read Me file to Default Folder X’s icon, then using its menu to move it to the Sample Files folder.
Second, Default Folder X’s new keyboard-driven mode has gotten smarter. To review a bit, there’s a “quick search” window that pops up with a keyboard shortcut. You type in a few letters, and it shows you all your recently-used folders, files and apps that match what you typed. For me, this gets me to 90% of the items I want with a couple of keypresses.
Now, however, the list of results shows a “>” button next to folders. Clicking on that or hitting the Right Arrow key on the keyboard “drills down” into that folder to show its contents, and then typing a few more letters matches items within the folder.
As before, hitting the Return key opens whatever is selected, but now you can also Control-click a result to get a contextual menu so you can Open, Reveal or Copy the item’s path. If it’s a folder, the contextual menu also includes a Contents submenu that lets you more rapidly descend into subfolders using Default Folder X’s hierarchical menus.
Honestly, the best way to understand it is just to try it for yourself. Download the latest build and launch it. The accompanying Read Me file contains more details on setting up and using the new features, though they pretty much just work. Hit Command+Option+Spacebar to invoke the quick search window – that’s all you really need to know.
The latest addition to the DFX6 preview is a rewritten Drag Zone, the drag and drop “shelf” that sits on the left side of Open and Save dialogs. You can now select and multi-select items, drag them to reorder them, insert new items between existing ones, etc. Previews pop up if you hover the mouse over an item. Double-clicking an item will open it. Control-clicking on an item brings up a contextual menu with options to reveal the item in the Finder, open it in the file dialog, or remove it from the drag zone.
There are also a number of fixes for issues in the previous DFX6 build – if you’re curious about all of the changes, check out the Read Me file that accompanies the app when you download it. The Read Me also includes instructions for setting up other new features, such as the keyboard-centric quick entry window, syncing preferences via iCloud, running actions after saving a file and more.
A new pre-release build of Default Folder X version 6 is available! Click here to download it. If you haven’t been following along, previous posts have covered new features like the wider filename edit box in Save dialogs, new Quick Entry window, and post-save actions.
In this build I’ve rewritten the drawer that Default Folder X (optionally) attaches to Finder windows. It now properly supports dragging to reorder items, selection and multi-selection of items in the drawer, dragging items into folders that you’ve added to the drawer, and more.
This makes the drawer much more helpful as a temporary “shelf” when moving items between folders, as well as a handy place to organize files and folders while you’re working with them. They’re easy to get to, even if they’re actually located in multiple different folders.
One of the challenges with the drawer was finding a way to make it scale as you add more items to it. It shrinks the icons as more are added, then as you mouse through them, spreads them apart so you can read their filenames.
I’ve been experimenting with this for quite a while, and I’d appreciate feedback on how it works for you in practice. Suggestions are more than welcome!
After making intermittent progress on version 6 of Default Folder X for months, I’m hoping to get things moving faster so I can get the new features out to a wider audience soon. The new capabilities make Open and Save dialogs even faster and easier to use, as well as speeding access to recently used files and folders in the Finder.
Among the features I find most useful are a wider edit field in Save dialogs, so you can actually see and edit long filenames:
and a “quick entry” pop-up where you can type a few letters in the name of a folder or file you want to access:
I outlined the details of these features in a previous post.
In addition, the latest build synchronizes your preferences and history between multiple Macs, so you’ll have access to your favorite and recently used files and folders regardless of which Mac you’re using. The caveat here is that synced Macs must have their files and folders synchronized so that Default Folder X can find the items on both machines – if it can’t, those items will be grayed out in its menus.
DFX 6 also offers “post-save” actions that you can use to automatically handle files after saving them. Built-in actions include immediately opening a saved file, attaching it to an email, or running an AppleScript or Automator workflow on it.
If you’d like to give the new features a spin, you can download the latest development build here. While it’s not feature-complete, the features above are working well and are stable. Please see the Read Me file for details on enabling the new features, and if you’ve got suggestions, feedback or bug reports, send them to DefaultFolderX@stclairsoft.com
