Review: Default Folder X 4.0.5
2:02 am, May 8th, 2008, Craig Grannell
Open and Save dialogs are as unsexy as things come on the Mac, but every Mac user has to deal with them daily. Despite Mac OS X being in its fifth major incarnation, these dialogs are still limited, but with Default Folder X, everything changes, and even a little sleekness is thrown into the mix.Once Default Folder X is installed, a black HUD-style overlay surrounds Open and Save dialog boxes, its toolbar providing access to user-definable favorites, recent folders, and a slew of handy options (such as rename, reveal and move) that puts Apple’s own dialogs to shame. Usefully, favorites can have hot-keys assigned via Default Folder’s preferences pane, which also provides the means to create a default Open/Save folder for each installed application.
Other included niceties are the menu/Dock item, providing a system-wide means of rapidly navigating mounted volumes and defined favorites, and a superior preview within Open dialogs, which automatically stretches to fill available vertical space. Spotlight comments and file properties are also possible to manipulate from Open and Save dialogs when Default Folder X is installed.
Although at the pricier end of the shareware spectrum—especially for a one-shot utility—Default Folder X is nonetheless an essential purchase. The seconds it saves every time you open or save a file soon add up, and after a few months’ use, you’ll find Macs lacking the application feel naked by comparison.
 
Default Folder X continues to excel in its fourth major revision, making it much easier for Mac users to open and save files.
Further information
Manufacturer: St. Clair Software
Price: $34.95 (upgrades from $14.95)
URL: www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Posted by Craig Grannell in Reviews, Software | Comment on this article
Default Folder is full of memory leaks and burns up CPU cycles in the background.
It’s one of the few applications which can hard crash OS X.
The idea sounds good, but the execution puts the stability of your Mac at serious risk.
It’s not something one needs – the risk is just too great. Since getting off DF crack, the stability of my two Macs has been enormously better.
Alec, on May 9th, 2008 at 12:56 am
I guess any add-on has the potential to screw up your Macs. However, I’ve been using Default Folder for years now, and I can count the problems I’ve had with it on exactly no fingers. As for CPU cycles, I have Activity Monitor running most of the time, and DFX appears to be rather well behaved these days.
Craig Grannell, on May 9th, 2008 at 7:54 am