Post by: bellbram on December 14, 2006, 01:47:18 AM
A few days ago after trying to sort out a minor glitch, I must have done something stupid, because now the 'Where' drop-down menu gives only a few basic options (including Desktop') so I have to first save to Desktop then drag & drop the file into its appropriate folder. All quite easy but time-consuming and a bore.
Any suggestions as to how I can get my all-singing all-dancing 'Where' drop-down menu back?
PS. Have been ultra-busy of late and not visited TeeEss for ages. Nice to be back and 'hello' all again, just in time to wish everyone a Happy Christmas!
Post by: krissel on December 14, 2006, 02:31:23 AM
Oh, and a very Happy Christmas to you, too.
Post by: Highmac on December 14, 2006, 02:34:51 AM
Post by: bellbram on December 14, 2006, 03:01:15 AM
And thank you Neil. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one. But at least you solved the problem without having to resort to TeeEss. Enjoy your haggis when the tme comes.
Post by: Gregg on December 14, 2006, 08:05:06 AM
Post by: bellbram on December 14, 2006, 11:31:35 AM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on December 14, 2006, 02:29:09 PM
Secondly, they either stay one too long or not long enough! Mainly a pain in the neck, IMHO. That's the great thing about Apple's OSs, they usually don't let you do anything bad to a file/disk/app without giving you a chance to back out of the action, gracefully. Frankly, I wish more people would use the 'press the button and see what happens' philosophy, there's a lot of hidden power in almost ant app that never gets used/seen by the average user. Of course, many are simply scared by some OSs that fry you computer and then send an email alerting you to the fact! 
Post by: RHPConsult on December 14, 2006, 08:42:40 PM
I've been laboring with that same mystery since OS X came upon the scene, a "Save" (and stash) dialogue box that was much too attenuated over the "classic" one we all learned with in our first Mac(s). Somehow, I saw one, somewhere, recently, that was in the form of a "List View"– such as when one clicks on "Open" in a given application's menu. That was what I was looking for.
So, naturally, I went to kneel at the feet of Sir Pendragon, hoping he could provide me we guidance as to how to get out of the very fix you're reporting here . . . I think.
Somehow, while we were talking about preferences and such, I did something that – boom! – brought up the precise model of dialogue box I had been hoping to find. It's in there, by golly, and it's neat when you find it . . . after all this is a Mac.
I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit that I've been slogging along with the "wrong" display. As well as not being able to tell you I don't know how the transformation occurred. I'll be really interested to see if anyone can point out the solution. I haven't a clue
The principal reason I was looking for help on this matter is the fact that I've also decided – with the pending arrival of my new iMac – to discard a Documents partition, a really old "convention" that I thought I didn't wish to eliminate, since it was so hard to take a Saved document and, as you said, do anything with the "skinny" dialogue box but aim it "toward" the Desktop.
The List View version makes it really easy to put it in subfolder in the Documents Folder. Thank Goodness.
Post by: Gregg on December 14, 2006, 09:16:22 PM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on December 14, 2006, 09:56:17 PM
Another nice feature of DefaultFolderX, is that if you are doing a lot of saving to a specific folder, there is a shortcut to the 'aiming'. Simply open a finder window with that folder showing. Now, even if the Finder window is completely hidden behind application/document windows, even with the Desktop completely covered, simply mousing over where that window is will cause its folder to be inserted into the destination in the Save dialog. Of course, you can always add a 'favorite' folder for a particular app in DefaultFolderX and it will always expect the documents for that app to be saved there, automatically.
Of course, I'm sure you guys remember that just using command-d will cause the 'where' to change to the Desktop. But you can also add a specific folder to the Sidebar of a Finder window. Now, when you see the Save( As... ) sheet, that same Sidebar will be there also and you can click that to designate the 'where'.
I often point to the default display of the Save sheets in my evangelism of using Column View for Finder windows. List view is a second choice, but if you keep all views the same ( Finder/Save/Open ) it's much easier to maintain your bearings as you travel around the hard drive. IMHO, anyway. Still not sure what Icon view is for.
Post by: kelly on December 14, 2006, 10:02:08 PM
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhint...gsave/index.php
Post by: RHPConsult on December 15, 2006, 12:32:31 AM
Many thanks (as usual)!
Since I began using Mariner Write, for example, I've been so puzzled why I was stuck with the "skinny" Save/Open diaglog box(es).
I've never been keen on fooling around in Terminal, but this hint is absolutely the answer to my . . angst!
Whoo Hoo
• • •
Jim: QUOTE
As for the size/design of the Save/Open/etc. dialog, I'm not sure there is a pref . . .
Neither Harv, nor RNKiii, nor I could find it. I don't think there's one either. I think they were kindof surprised when I said I was having trouble finding it