Default Folder X Review & Giveaway

Posted by Miles Evans on 08/3/07 in Featured, Organization, Productivity, Utilities

Default Folder X icon Does your desktop look like the bottom of a woman’s handbag? Desktop clutter and OS X seem to go hand in hand and this bad habit does actually hinder performance some. Now while many of our virtual desktops mimic our real life workspace, we can all agree that working under some organization and proper structure will certainly increase productivity.

Having said that, setting a default folder for all of your applications to use can be a bit of a pain in the ass requiring you to independently set each apps preferences. Navigating to the right folder while saving can also be a pain with Finders limited toolset. Enter Default Folder X which does just this and a whole lot more you might not expect it to.

At its most basic Default Folder X will allow you to set the default folder for all of your applications with just one dialogue. You can set it so all of your applications dump to one location or several really easily. Find the programs preferences and settings in your system preferences pane and you will see a screen like below.

DFX preferences pane

To say Default Folder X really beefs up your save dialogue boxes, is a bit of an understatement. From a typical save dialogue you now have the ability to browse favorites, recent, and all open finder folders (even if they are under other windows). I really like the way the background dims to gray when the save dialogue is open and how you can click on any open finder window. Since version 3.0 you have also been able to add Spotlight comments and search keywords to a file, right as your saving it, which can really speed up future searches for it.

Default Folder X save dialogue box

Another stand out feature of DFX is the ability to rebound to the last file you were using in a given application. Default Folder X remember this for you so you don’t have to browse for it again. By having Default Folder X boot into your dock at login you really are never more than a click or two away from just about any location on your Mac. Try it and you will see what I mean.

DFX predates OS 8 and is one of the most robust and well liked utilities out there for our Macs. There is a fairly large group of people who swear by it and I am one of them. Default Folder X retails for $34.95 and there is a full featured 30 day trial to see if it is right for you.

BONUS! The developers at St. Clair Software have agreed to give away 2 licenses of Default Folder X to 2 lucky commenters to this article. To be entered tell us what you like/dislike about DFX or suggest a new feature. Winners will be announced in 1 week!

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24 Comment(s)

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Pemmax said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 am

Change icon app

Slevin said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 8:56 am

I love how you cans set default places to save files and that it remembers where you opened the file last. Makes it easy to save, I usually just save everything to the desktop and then place it in the correct folder. Not anymore with this Default Folder X

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Maciek said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 8:56 am

…and lower the price

I would really like to purchase this one but current price level scaries me a bit.
Not to be rude, but many other softwares in the same price range can do much more.

Maciek said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 8:59 am

And BTW - If anyone wants to use it only for organizing their downloads, Hazel (http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php) could be better choice…

Toni said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 am

Im currently testing DefaultFolder X and Hazel. Not sure which I need more and it would be great if DFX would have some basic hazel automating abilities.

I very much like save as dialog and tagging feature.

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Jim said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 am

I love this app! This should be the first thing installed on any new Mac. The ability to set key commands to jump to specified folders is a huge timesaver for those who have many folders buried deep on their drive.

I have found one apparent bug, though I can’t reproduce it on command. Every once in a while my favorite folders appear to “duplicate” themselves in the list for no apparent reason - or they lose their key command shortcuts. It doesn’t happen often, and it **may** be related to a crash, another app conflict, etc.

The only feature I can think of to add would be an option to have some of Default Folder’s capabilities added to a contextual menu in the Finder or even in the apps themselves such as a Finder ability to move the selected file to one of the “favorites”

Tim said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 10:42 am

I like DFX because it has changed my perspective on life. I used to be a blood-thirsty pro-war right-winger, but after reading about DFX in this blog entry I want to give peace a chance.

Aaron said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 11:55 am

I’m sort of an electronic hobo, drifting from browser to browser, app to app, boxcar to boxcar and this looks as if will help organize my downloads and such.

Rory said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 pm

I like the idea of being able to set establish favorites folders. My wife has a difficult time dealing with the OS X save dialogue and finding where she wants to go.

I also like the idea of setting key commands for folders - would be very handy for getting at particular files deep in the structure of a site.

Joe Cool said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 12:25 pm

I really like the functionality of DFX. What I would like to see is an improved interface. I like functional interfaces, but I also like them to be pretty. The current one to me is a little plain.

I still think the software is great. Keep it up!

RUDE said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 1:45 pm

I’ve been using DFX for some days now and there’s something I miss so much: you can set global hotkeys for favourite folders, but the thing I do most of the time is opening the menu to go to the most recent folder, I love this feature but if it had a configurable hotkey, it would be the best addon to the finder ever.

One thing I dislike about the software, although it’s extremely configurable is that I can’t hide some unused features like the “Computer” menu, I don’t need it since I have all it’s items in my finder sidebar.

I wouldn’r like to finnish with the bad things I found in DFX so I’ll say one last cool thing about it: The feature I find simply wonderful is the capability to acceed to any finder window already opened from the save dialog.

Cheers.

St. Clair Software said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 3:47 pm

Hey Joe Cool (or anyone else, for that matter) - suggestions for improving the interface would be welcome.

- Jon

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Barry said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm

I recently read about this in MacWorld and, specifically, a big thumbs up by Internet Hobo Merlin Mann. As a relatively recent mac-convert, I’m always looking for more ways to blow away my MS notions; this program offers the kind of customization I’m looking for!

St. Clair Software said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 3:50 pm

Rude: option up-arrow and option down-arrow move backward and forward through your recent folders when you’re in an Open or Save dialog. And if you command-option-click on DFX’s “Settings” button in System Preferences and turn on the “HotkeysForRecentFolders” checkbox, option-up and option-down will work in the Finder too. How’s that for service?

As for the menu structure, I’ll work on making that customizable. We’ve had lots of requests for it.

- Jon

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Tony Jensen said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm

Having access to my most recent places as well as my favorites would be wonderful. To be able to have such easy access to adding spotlight comments is icing on the cake.

Caitlyn Imburgo said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 5:09 pm

One cool feature I’d like to see built into this app to make it a real all purpose application when it comes to saving files would be to allow all file types of a certain extension be saved to a specific folder as well. An example would be that all JPEG files go in one folder while all GIF files are saved to another folder because it is set in Default Folder X as such.

AR said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 pm

I think the functionality of this application is great, but I’m also a fan of eye candy! (as long as the program is functional, of course…)

Phoenix said on

August 3rd, 2007 at 8:09 pm

I like the integrated Spotlight comments, but I dislike the way that the interface relies on dropdown menus for so many functions.

Yong Hwee said on

August 4th, 2007 at 2:06 am

I dislike it’s interface. Looks a tad old and I’m not a huge fan of drop-down menus.

Ron said on

August 4th, 2007 at 2:15 am

I bought this a while back on the MacUpdate daily special. It has become an indispensible component of my daily work. Best regards, Jon.

kemper said on

August 4th, 2007 at 11:26 am

Using the Spotlight comments feature in the save dialog box us the 2nd most useful feature of DFX. I never used Spotlight comments before DFX. But it now makes commenting so easy I actually use the feature to tag my documents.

Geoff said on

August 4th, 2007 at 9:32 pm

DFX needs some interface tweaking and maybe it’s just me and my Power Mac G5 but it could use a speed boost too. I love the functionality, but sometimes, it just crawls on me.

ErichD said on

August 8th, 2007 at 12:34 am

I’d really lke the option to save to different locations base don file type.

For example, when I download or save a movie, it by default goes to a folder I have called “Movies.”

WHen i download a dmg or an application, it goes to “trial apps”…

And so on and so forth..

Great app!

James C said on

August 11th, 2007 at 4:59 pm

I have been using DFX for the last few days and it a great app. I agree with previous observations; the price is a little high and I would like to be able to have set some save points based on the file type. Also, depending on the program or website it is being saved from to automatically have information entered in the Spotlight notes.

Great app! Maybe have a special pricing sometime