[Macworld]

Post your comments for Apps we can't live without: Default Folder X here

[SimoneUe]

I couldn't live without Default Folder X either. However, my workflow is very simple: open the appropriate folder with Launchbar (or any other launcher) and then go for visible folders in Default Folder X and you're there. Very flexible, very efficient.

[Trubador]

I can't live without WindowShade X. Makes working on my desktop with multiple apps and files open a WHOLE lot cleaner and easier.

[Joel001]

Default Folder X has been on my Macs for so long, like Dan and many others, I can't function properly without it. For me, the ability to set the folder by clicking an open Finder window is worth it alone. Jon supports DFX tirelessly and deserves great credit for his efforts.

[Alec]

Actually in the latest versions of OS X (anywhere from 10.5 on at least), you just need to drag any file over from the Finder into the Open/Save dialogue and you'll automatically be taken to that folder.

Dan, you seem to have omitted a long and awful period in St Clair Software's history where they were using Unsanity's APE framework and in fact Default Folder was one of the principal causes of system crashes. I remember well as I owned Default Folder at the time (still do actually). After six months of crashes for unclear reasons, I finally too uninstalled the "essential" Default Folder and had an instantly stable computer.

Default Folder hacks too deep into the OS and cannot help but interfere with your system. Any incompatibility between OS and the utility can result in serious issues. Be careful with this one, especially as Jon is always adding new features. If just the core features would work reliably and stably, Default Folder would be a lot more useful.

[Dan Frakes]

Alec, on 06 February 2013 - 01:53 PM, said:

Dan, you seem to have omitted a long and awful period in St Clair Software's history where they were using Unsanity's APE framework and in fact Default Folder was one of the principal causes of system crashes. I remember well as I owned Default Folder at the time (still do actually). After six months of crashes for unclear reasons, I finally too uninstalled the "essential" Default Folder and had an instantly stable computer.

My recollection of that period isn't quite the same as yours I do recall versions of DFX that weren't as stable as others, but I never had serious issues. YMMV, of course.

[ZombieReagan]

Used LaunchBar for years. Recently bought a new Mac mini and I have to say that Spotlight in 10.8 (plus the speed of the new machine) made great headway compared to my old Mac running 10.6.8 ... and as a result Spotlight does just about everything for me that LaunchBar used to do better/faster. I could install LaunchBar on my new Mac if I wanted to, but to be honest I'm pleasantly surprised that Spotlight works so well that I don't need to.

[ZombieReagan]

Eek, never mind - I read the article, agreed with it ... then had a brainƒart and somewhow decided I needed to write about LaunchBar. Sorry everyone!

I actually depend on Default Folder X and it was one of the 1st apps I installed on my new Mac.

Now where's the phone number of that neurologist....

[IndigoHomme]

While I have been a long-time DF user, it is still not as good as Superboomerang on OS 9.

[StevenFishervsh2]

I used Default Folder for many years before abandoning it when I realized some of the changes it made to the Open/Save dialogs were made in the sole interest of making them more like Classic Mac OS. I preferred the Mac OS X version by that time, so gave up on it.

[b6gp4XwMpCq]

I've used Default Folder X at work for the past 3 years and it has always been very stable for me. In general system add-ons causing conflict and stuff like that is rare (and I run several Macs at work all day and all night long), and even in that case it's easy to disable them, so to me time/effort saving benefit overweighs far more than potential trade-offs. DFX doesn't really "hardwire" anything on the system, it just patches at runtime so it would be a matter of turning it off *if* I have any problems with it. (and I haven't.) I run more than a dozen utilities in the background and my Macs run just fine.

Default Folder X is far more than some Classic-like shortcuts. It brings me back to all the right folders when I go in and out of Open/Save dialog, it even selects the right file for me when I go in there, and its ability to assign keyboard shortcuts inside Open/Save dialog and other features all save me ton of time and irritation in the process. Strongly recommended.

As for LaunchBar and Spotlight, I need both. LaunchBar's search template and abbreviation-based search are not available in Spotlight. In fact LB complements Spotlight.

[wheat]

I've been a Default Folder user for more than 10 years, and before Mac OS X. (I've been using Macs since 1987.) Whenever I have to use somebody else's Mac, the first time I go to save or open a document, I immediately notice and miss the fact that Default Folder X isn't on their computer. Default Folder X simply makes the Mac easier to use and more efficient. For me, Default Folder has simply become part of the user interface of my computing environment; I don't think of it as an add-on. It's so well-thought-out and useful that I've always thought that Apple should adopt features from Default Folder and build them into Mac OS X. Of course that wouldn't be good for the good people at St. Clair Software. You simply don't know what you are missing if you don't have this program on your Mac. It becomes indispensible as soon as you use it for the first time.

[bishopdante]

Apple's sandboxing requirements being compulsory are pretty much anathema to good quality system mods.

Apple should, really, introduce another security-signoff process for vetting daemons etc, so that we can have our system utilities. Not everything is an app, y'know.