[KidRed]

Default folder gave us more function in open save dialogs in 9 but isn't quite as intergrated in X. Seeing the finder has so many options and features and function, why has Apple forsaken the open save dialogs? I'd love to be able to rename a folder, move it to the trash, make a copy of a file, drag and drop a file into another directory via spring loaded folders etc. We have all that in the finder and as much as Apple made the open save dialogs as close to the finder, they didn't make it as funtional.

Will Apple ever beef up the these dialogs? I wish the brains at unsanity would do their version of default folder, I'd love to see what they could do with it. Hopefully, Apple will address this issue one day.

[Cipher13]

I'd rather they made them work properly before bloating them further. They're so slow...

[KidRed]

I'm not sure how adding 4 menu options underneath "Add to favorites' will bloat open save dialog?

Anyway, just curious if Apple will ever add moire function to open save dialogs. Or if that ability to add more is present. It does need to be faster, but it lacks a lot of function currently.

[SMacTech]

I would like to see Action Files ported to OS X.

[rytc]

Originally posted by KidRed:
Default folder gave us more function in open save dialogs in 9 but isn't quite as intergrated in X. Seeing the finder has so many options and features and function, why has Apple forsaken the open save dialogs? I'd love to be able to rename a folder, move it to the trash, make a copy of a file, drag and drop a file into another directory via spring loaded folders etc. We have all that in the finder and as much as Apple made the open save dialogs as close to the finder, they didn't make it as funtional.

Will Apple ever beef up the these dialogs? I wish the brains at unsanity would do their version of default folder, I'd love to see what they could do with it. Hopefully, Apple will address this issue one day.

These functions aren't really related to what the Open/Save dialog boxes are for, they're for opening and saving files. If you want to start renaming/deleting/moving etc etc files then why not do it in the finder which is designed purely for that purpose. I think having a basic one is better, then the 3rd party shareware market can add to it with apps that those who want these features can use. The OS is never going to do everything everyone wants (and if it did it would be a mess), and Open/Save dialog boxes are hardly a selling point for an OS.

[BuonRotto]

People have mentioned the idea of eliminating open/save dialogs altogether since they are a remnant of single-tasking Macs and PCs back in the 1980s.

[KidRed]

Originally posted by rytc:
These functions aren't really related to what the Open/Save dialog boxes are for, they're for opening and saving files. If you want to start renaming/deleting/moving etc etc files then why not do it in the finder which is designed purely for that purpose. I think having a basic one is better, then the 3rd party shareware market can add to it with apps that those who want these features can use. The OS is never going to do everything everyone wants (and if it did it would be a mess), and Open/Save dialog boxes are hardly a selling point for an OS.

I disagree. I create a file in Photoshop, then go to save it and creat a folder for it. But wait, I typed it too fast and screwed up the spelling. It would be nice to trash it. I want to do something to a file so I open chose make copy and open the copy. I'm opening a file and searching thru thousands of images and notice I have quite a few repeats, no prb, delete them. Plenty of reasons why you want more function in the open save dialogs.

Default folder in 9 did this so well with no bloat. However default folder in X is some what laughable being a tiny little bar on the side of the window. I was wondering if some elements could be added to the acutal open save dialogs or if Apple would one day add more function to them.

[DeathMan]

I think that the whole save/open dialog thing could be done better. right now, you can't do anything in the save dialog.

I think that the save dialog could be something as simple as a sheet that closely resembles a finder window, with all the functionality. Would this be confusing? I don't think it would be more confusing than it already is.

Open/Save dialogs are among the most difficult thing for new computer users to cope with. Why make someone learn a different interface for essentially the same operations. When you save, a sheet comes down with the title save as, and a finder looking thing that acts just as you would exect the finder to look. Then you could rename stuff, search for stuff, do whatever you want/need to do.

Maybe this would be confusing to people, but I see people flounder on save dialogs quite often.

Anyone have a better idea for save dialogs?

[macmike42]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
Anyone have a better idea for save dialogs?

Yeah. Eliminate open dialogs entirely. Save dialogs should contain a small prompt that says "Drag to desired location" and (obviously) an icon.

Note: this is not a demand, or even my suggestion for the best way to do it, I'm just throwing an idea out there. BTW, it's not even an original idea, this is what RISC OS and Rox Desktop do.

[Terri]

They should just be like any other Finder window with the same options.

I much preferred System 9's open/save dialogs.

[macmike42]

Originally posted by Terri:
They should just be like any other Finder window with the same options.

How would you handle spring-loaded folders in a sheet? How would you handle get info windows? Search? A toolbar in a sheet? The connect to server dialog? You really can't go giving a mere dialog box all the features of an application.

I mean, the amount of time it takes to load the open/save dialogs *now* is bad enough, with the few features they have. Giving them all the features of the Finder would either make each dialog open slower or increase the launch time of every single application (not to mention the memory footprint).

Originally posted by Terri:
I much preferred System 9's open/save dialogs.

I agree with you 95% on that one (-5% because I do *love* column view, especially since 10.2.3 when the arrows keys started working correctly, but there are times when it gets in the way). I would be totally satisfied if they simply gave us a choice of icon, list, or column view in the open dialogs.

[Terri]

Originally posted by macmike42:
I would be totally satisfied if they simply gave us a choice of icon, list, or column view in the open dialogs.

Actually that is what I meant. I didn't mean that they should have the finder toolbar and all.

I would want the same sort options as well. I use labels a lot and it's diving me crazy that we don't have sort by date or Label in them. Yeah I realize that Labels are 3rd party, don't get me started on them not being built in.

[KidRed]

Originally posted by macmike42:
How would you handle spring-loaded folders in a sheet? How would you handle get info windows? Search? A toolbar in a sheet? The connect to server dialog? You really can't go giving a mere dialog box all the features of an application.

I mean, the amount of time it takes to load the open/save dialogs *now* is bad enough, with the few features they have. Giving them all the features of the Finder would either make each dialog open slower or increase the launch time of every single application (not to mention the memory footprint).I agree with you 95% on that one (-5% because I do *love* column view, especially since 10.2.3 when the arrows keys started working correctly, but there are times when it gets in the way). I would be totally satisfied if they simply gave us a choice of icon, list, or column view in the open dialogs.

Sheets are only in some apps and only to save. Opena dn save should be them same app IMO. I would rather just have the finder as a save/open then what we have now. The column is cool for opening but sucks for saving at leat in photoshop and imageready. I can't count how many times photoshop and imageready have created an images directory to put the saved iamges in and then I save again later in that same directory and neither app recognizes the directory and creates a new images folder inside to original images folder. Funny thing is, is that the beta of photoshop did it correctly. Somewhere when they made it final, they screwed up the images directory thing. This is the main reason why list view should at least be an option. I'd at least like the option to customize the toolbar with delete and why can't I double click on the files names to hilite it so i can change it's name?

[Terri]

I end up saving things in the wrong folder all the time. Often when I'm trying to open something I have trouble finding it and get frustrated and end up using the Finder to navigate to the file and then dragging and dropping it on the icon in the dock.

Then in the Dock the application's icon tries to move out of my way and I have to chase it, but that is a rant for a whole other thread.

I really would be very happy just to get back System 9's dialogs.

[KidRed]

Originally posted by Terri:
I end up saving things in the wrong folder all the time. Often when I'm trying to open something I have trouble finding it and get frustrated and end up using the Finder to navigate to the file and then dragging and dropping it on the icon in the dock.

HAHA happens to me all the time.

[Amorya]

Originally posted by macmike42:
Yeah. Eliminate open dialogs entirely. Save dialogs should contain a small prompt that says "Drag to desired location" and (obviously) an icon.

Note: this is not a demand, or even my suggestion for the best way to do it, I'm just throwing an idea out there. BTW, it's not even an original idea, this is what RISC OS and Rox Desktop do.

Even better - have NO save option. Instead, you have to drag the proxy icon to wherever you like from the top of the window.

Amorya

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by Amorya:
Even better - have NO save option. Instead, you have to drag the proxy icon to wherever you like from the top of the window.

Amorya

But that icon is tiny, and very dificult to click hold of.
(I use it in the Finder quite a lot, to drag open folders to the trash. So I know of what I speek)

[TC]

One thing I have always hated on saving s that you can't select a file that you want to overwrite. You have to type in the complete name. Also sometimes I would like to use a current file name as the basis of the name I want to save as.

I think you should be able to rename things inside the save dialog. Another option would be to allow us to open the current folder in focus in the finder, that way we could use finder tools to rename things.
Or when you try to overwrite a file which exists what about having the option to rename the old file rather than just overwriting it? You could have the option to use automatic rules for renaming the old version, such as adding a number to the end of it.

A biggy for me in save dialogs would be access to the comments field of every file. When I make incremental changes to files I would love to be able to type in a description of what I have doen. Then when it comes to opening I should be able to read the comments to find the one I want.

How about building automatic versioning into the OS? Using something like CVS when you save a file you could have an option to 'archive last version'. This would save a lot of space for me in folders and could probbaly be achieved quite easily in OS X using packages to store the archived versions.

Finally there should be much better preview options and more information about files available. I would love to see a drawer which displays the finder preview and information about the file such as last modified date and things like image dimensions (especially if Apple ever gets around to showing this information for jpegs in OS X!!!)

Think that's about it for me.

One tip for anyone using open/save dialogs is that you can drag a folder/file from the finder into an open/save diaolg box to go there immediately. Just a pity there isn't the option to open the finder in the open/save dialogues.

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by TC:
One tip for anyone using open/save dialogs is that you can drag a folder/file from the finder into an open/save diaolg box to go there immediately. Just a pity there isn't the option to open the finder in the open/save dialogues.

This is a great feature (and sort of links windows open on the desktop to the open/save dialouge, you could also do it is OS9) It was one of the first things that irked me when I go a job using Windows evry day. If you try this on Windows it just puts a (unusable, the app will try to open it, as if it was a file Doh) shortcut to the item in the location that is in the dialouge, useless.
In fact the Open/Saves on XP are a good example of the problems you would endup with if you try an cram to much 'Finder like' functionality in to them (you can move, cut/copy/paste rename & delete files in the Open/Saves on XP, it's a bit of a mess.

[KidRed]

Originally posted by TC:
One thing I have always hated on saving s that you can't select a file that you want to overwrite. You have to type in the complete name. Also sometimes I would like to use a current file name as the basis of the name I want to save as.

I think you should be able to rename things inside the save dialog. Another option would be to allow us to open the current folder in focus in the finder, that way we could use finder tools to rename things.
Or when you try to overwrite a file which exists what about having the option to rename the old file rather than just overwriting it? You could have the option to use automatic rules for renaming the old version, such as adding a number to the end of it.

A biggy for me in save dialogs would be access to the comments field of every file. When I make incremental changes to files I would love to be able to type in a description of what I have doen. Then when it comes to opening I should be able to read the comments to find the one I want.

How about building automatic versioning into the OS? Using something like CVS when you save a file you could have an option to 'archive last version'. This would save a lot of space for me in folders and could probbaly be achieved quite easily in OS X using packages to store the archived versions.

Finally there should be much better preview options and more information about files available. I would love to see a drawer which displays the finder preview and information about the file such as last modified date and things like image dimensions (especially if Apple ever gets around to showing this information for jpegs in OS X!!!)

Think that's about it for me.

One tip for anyone using open/save dialogs is that you can drag a folder/file from the finder into an open/save diaolg box to go there immediately. Just a pity there isn't the option to open the finder in the open/save dialogues.

Some great, great points. I really like the 'show in finder' option, that would save some time. I just dont' see why we can't have contexual meuns or just more commands in the pull down menu. And I think the focus thing in X needs to be improved, give better feedback as to what directory you are in.

[cowerd]

If you want to start renaming/deleting/moving etc etc files then why not do it in the finder which is designed purely for that purpose. I think having a basic one is better, then the 3rd party shareware market can add to it with apps that those who want these features can use. The OS is never going to do everything everyone wants (and if it did it would be a mess), and Open/Save dialog boxes are hardly a selling point for an OS.

Well the Open/Save dialog boxes present you with a Finder metaphor, why shouldn't it allow you to do the same things that you can do in the Finder. We are not asking for bloat features, just some semblance of the functionality that was available with OS9 (you know the operating system that sucked so badly that Apple killed it )

At minimum I would hope that I could select multiple files to open, rename files, select a file name and have it appear in the name box, open a new dialog box and have it spring back to last used location, have keyboard navigation shortcuts mirror the Finder, sort by in any view in open/save, have a choice of multiple views.

Open/Save dialog boxes are one of the many things that are pissing off graphics pros who are being requested to switch to OSX. Open/Save is so bad that I save files to my desktop and use the Finder to move, rename and sort.

[Terri]

Originally posted by cowerd:
Open/Save dialog boxes are one of the many things that are pissing off graphics pros who are being requested to switch to OSX. Open/Save is so bad that I save files to my desktop and use the Finder to move, rename and sort.

This is also what I'm doing.

[TC]

Originally posted by cowerd:
Open/Save is so bad that I save files to my desktop and use the Finder to move, rename and sort.

I find that I can get to most of my folders quite quickly by using a combination of the favorites folder and shortcuts. In the favorites folder I setup my own folders for the different kinds of projects I work on. Then whenever I start a new project I put a shortcut to its folder inside the correct folder.

This way I can instantly see 'Web Sites' inside my favorites list and when I select that I can just pick a project to go directly to that folder.

As long as I keep things up to date it means most important folders are only 2 clicks away.

Another good one to put in favorites is a shortcut to /Volumes, much easier than scrolling all the way to the left to get to the root of your disks.