Product Reviews

Default Folder X is the long-running file dialog enhancement that gives you instant access to your favourite locations. It appears in the Open and Save dialogs, performing a range of tasks to speed up your navigation. Now version 4 brings not only complete Mac OS X 10.5 compatibility but also a full implementation of some of Leopard's most advanced features.

Default Folder improves dialogs in several ways. First it provides instant bounce-back to the last file opened or saved. This means that if you create an image in Photoshop, say, when you go to Mail and choose Attachments, a keystroke will take you to the relevant folder and that file will already be selected. You can also navigate through recent folders using Alt and the cursor keys, making it easy to snap back through your travels. This is particularly useful when you want to open a series of files from one folder, modify them and save them in a different folder: there's no more searching for the right location when you can flip between the two folders instantly. If you prefer to associate individual folders with particular applications, you can tell Default Folder to bounce back to these folders within dialogs.

While OS X supports Spotlight searching in Open dialogs, Default Folder lets you

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assign your own Spotlight keywords directly from within the dialog. It will also remember the keywords you create, adding auto-completion to save you having to type them again.

Favourite folders can be added to a separate icon menu on the side of the dialog box, and you can jump to them with a hotkey combination. In addition, choosing any favourite or recent folder from the icons will produce a hierarchical navigation system that can take you right to the file you're looking for. And if you can see the folder you want to navigate to on the desktop, there's no need to search for it: clicking on it while in the Open or Save dialog box will take you straight to that folder within the dialog box. All these can be set up within the Control Panel, many of them directly in the Open/Save dialog boxes.

Version 4 sports a new translucent graphite appearance, fully in keeping with Leopard. The single best new feature is an implementation of Leopard's QuickLook technology: when any file is selected in the dialog, an extra pane pops out of the bottom of the Default Folder view that shows a large preview of that file. No more squinting at tiny thumbnails - and a button within the preview will expand it to full screen.

The preview pane additionally displays file information including size and creation dates - and it allows you to change labels and permissions directly. Among other new features are a Reveal in Finder command, the use of cursor keys to cycle through recently used Spotlight searches, and support for 64-bit applications.

Default Folder X slots so neatly into the Leopard workflow that it's hard to believe it wasn't built in by Apple. The slick new look and fantastic QuickLook feature add greatly to the user experience: more than ever before, Default Folder X confirms its place as an indispensable utility for Mac users.