[Spliff]

I just noticed a strange behavior in Apple's "Save As" dialog box. Can someone tell me if this is a bug or a feature.

In any open app (e.g., Safari, TextEdit), select "Save As" from the file menu. Note the filename at the top of the dialog box. Navigate to a folder that contains apps or documents that are "greyed out." Now click on a greyed out file. Notice that the name in the "Save As" pane changes to match the name of the greyed out file you clicked on.

Is this intentional by Apple? If so, why? If I'm navigating my folders to save a file and I accidently click on a file, I don't want the name of my document or file to change. That means I'd have to retype it.

[KP*]

I think it's a feature, and one which I love (I think it's new with Panther?). It allows you to overwrite existing files without having to type the filename yourself. I guess whether you like it or not depends more on whether you're more likely to need to overwrite files or accidentally click on gray letters. I overwrite files a lot, so it works great for me.

[Dakar]

It's a feature, and I like it. Sometimes I just change the # at the end of the file, sometimes I replace it.

[JNI]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I just noticed a strange behavior in Apple's "Save As" dialog box. Can someone tell me if this is a bug or a feature.

In any open app (e.g., Safari, TextEdit), select "Save As" from the file menu. Note the filename at the top of the dialog box. Navigate to a folder that contains apps or documents that are "greyed out." Now click on a greyed out file. Notice that the name in the "Save As" pane changes to match the name of the greyed out file you clicked on.

Is this intentional by Apple? If so, why? If I'm navigating my folders to save a file and I accidently click on a file, I don't want the name of my document or file to change. That means I'd have to retype it.

I would call it a feature. Say you had a file named "Yes Concert 4.17.04.txt" and there was already one named "Yes Concert 4.17.04.jpg". You want to save the picture file with the same name as the text file, except for the extension. It would save you some typing.

So, just don't click on the grayed out file if you don't want to change the default name.

(Oh, and yes, I was just at the Yes concert in San Jose on 4.17.04...)

[Zadian]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I just noticed a strange behavior in Apple's "Save As" dialog box. Can someone tell me if this is a bug or a feature.

Sadly it's a feature and i absolutely hate it.

[SomeToast]

Originally posted by Zadian:
Sadly it's a feature and i absolutely hate it.

You nutty. I used to buy utilities for OS 7-8 just to get this feature.

That being said, I think it would have been better if a modifier key was required to prevent accidental renamings (like a command-click on an existing file in the save dialog) or so the feature wouldn't be as likely to get in the way of people who don't use it.

[Big Mac]

Yeah, as others have said it is a feature, one borrowed from Windows at that. Along with Finder file copy and paste, they are two OS X features taken from Windows, likely due to user requests.

[-Q-]

Definitely a feature and I love it. I'm constantly modifying web graphics and that's a big time saver.

[alex_kac]

Its a specific feature that's in Panther, but not Jaguar. It was one of the biggest reasons I love Panther...just one little tiny thing, but oh so important.

[ginoledesma]

Its a "feature" (or at least standard behaviour of Mac OS 8.x and later). Back in the early days of Mac OS X, people were clamoring for a number of Mac OS 9.x standard features which the new Finder ommited, in particular spring-loaded folders, labels, and item selection in the Save dialog boxes.

Of course, having the disabled effect does make it confusing, but it does require a click after all to get the name to change.