How to change the default location for the standard File Save dialog in Mac OS X?

Question

Subj. Now it is set to Macintosh HD.

Please, help me to change it !

Update: it was noticed in TextMate at least

Answer 1

It seems to depend on the application. Just now, with 10.6.4:

• iCal's Export dialog started in whatever folder I used the last time;
• Safari and Firefox seem to start with ~/Desktop;
• NeoOffice started with ~/Documents;
• Console started with ~/Library/Logs.

So I'm not sure there is any system default; each application seems to have its own idea of where you are likely to want to save a file.

Answer 2

The location dialog boxes open to is determined by the application via a parameter they pass into the API call. If the application doesn't store the last used location, or always passes in the same location, there's not much you can do about it.

As long as the program is using the standard Cocoa API, there are many shortcut keys that can be used to jump around to mitigate this problem:

• Command-Shift-D - Jumps to ~/Desktop
• Command-Shift-H - Jumps to ~/
• Command-Shift-A - Jumps to /Applications
• Command-Shift-C - Jumps to the a virtual folder that displays all mounted disks
• Command-Shift-G - opens a prompt and allows you to type a (tab-completable) path
• Command-Shift-. - toggles hidden files (typically).

Should work in both Save and Open standard dialogs.

Answer 3

Perhaps you'd be interested in a third-party solution?

Default Folder X allows you to set the default folder on a per-application basis, or system-wide. It also enhances save dialog boxes, giving you folder shortcuts, favourites, etc.

Answer 4

Just discovered a great trick for dealing with this and other Finder dialogs, although I guess it may still vary from one app to another. In any case, worked for me when I was using an Upload File dialog from Firefox.

I found that if I simply browsed to the desired folder, then the next time the upload dialog opened it would always reset to ~/Documents folder. But if I selected a location under SEARCH FOR in the sidebar then the Finder dialog would reuse it. So I made a Smart Folder that simply pointed to the desired folder/files and had it saved in the sidebar.

Answer 5

Not sure if my answer is merely duplicating someone elses, but just in case it'll help someone:

It indeed seems to be application-dependent, which leads me to suspect that the fix lies in the Preferences of each application. For Firefox, for example, when saving downloaded files:

1 If you want the downloaded file to be saved to same folder you chose for the previous download:

Preferences > General > Downloads: Select "Always ask me where to save files" (and NOT "Save files to")

2 If you want the downloaded file to be saved to a consistent default location, regardless of save location of previous download:

Preferences > General > Downloads: Select "Save files to" and browse to the location (and NOT "Always ask me where to save files")