Save your files effortlessly and open your folders instantly---Default Folder X makes macOS' Open and Save dialogs work as quickly as you do. Custom keyboard shortcuts put your favorite and recent folders at your fingertips. Pop-up menus let you navigate your folders and open Finder windows. Open, save, and get back to work: Default Folder X is workflow for the rest of us.

Directory Assistant

Access your recent, favorite, and open folders from DFX's toolbar. Hierarchical pop-up menus let you quickly navigate through folders to get to your files.

Real Time Saving

If you're constantly saving things inside the same folder, DFX can remember that folder for you. Or you can set it as the default folder for an application so you're in the right folder from the start.

Finder Management

DFX lets you open up or save to any Finder window with a single click. It also lets you get info on, duplicate, rename, and delete existing files, putting the Finder's power in every Open and Save dialog.

Instant Recall

To help you quickly return to folders and files you've used recently, DFX remembers them for you. It even re-selects the last file you opened. With DFX, you'll never forget where you put something.

At Your Fingertips

Get places fast by using keyboard shortcuts for your favorite folders. Or jump to recent folders and open Finder windows with a keystroke. DFX's shortcuts are completely configurable.

Spotlight on the Spot

Tag your files or edit your Spotlight comments from within any Open or Save dialog. Don't remember what tags you used before? DFX shows you all of your recently used tags - just drag and drop.

What's New

Here's a quick rundown of the major additions. Details and screenshots are on the Default Folder X 6.0 Tour page.

  • Use the keyboard to quickly access favorites, recent files, folders, apps or Finder windows. Pop up Default Folder X's new Quick Search window with a keyboard shortcut, type a few characters of an item's name, and then quickly go to it in a file dialog or open it in the Finder.
  • Wide filename field when saving files. Pretty self-explanatory - the default macOS Save As dialogs have an edit box that's way too narrow to accommodate a descriptive file name. Default Folder X 6 makes it bigger.
  • Drag and drop files and folders to Default Folder X's icon in the menu bar to move or copy them to another location. Pick a destination folder quickly from DFX's Recent and Favorites menus, or drill down to any folder using it's hierarchical menus.
  • Customize Default Folder X's menu in your menu bar. Add, remove and reorganize menus and menu items to fit your workflow.
  • Perform actions on files after saving them. Automatically open the saved file, attach it to an email, or run AppleScripts, Automator Workflows or Shortcuts on it.
  • Sync your Default Folder X settings between Macs. If you've got more than one Mac with the same file and folder organization, sync your settings via iCloud so Default Folder X works the same on both machines.
  • More powerful drawer in the Finder. Default Folder X's Finder drawer has been rewritten to be more useful and intuitive. Use it as a temporary drag-and-drop holding space, or as a location for often used files and folders.
  • Support for macOS 14 Sonoma. Yes, it's compatible with Apple's latest and greatest.
  • See the full version history for more new features and fixes.

What's new in version 6.0.2:

New features:

  • In the Quick Search window, you can now browse through all recent items by hitting the Down Arrow key when there's no search string.
  • Added Command-L as a default keyboard shortcut for "Enter Filename" in Save dialogs so you can easily move back to the filename edit field.
  • Changed the layout of items in the Finder drawer so they're clustered together in the center rather than distributed across the entire width of the drawer.
  • In Default Folder X > Settings > Recent, "Forget All Recently Used Items" now also removes recent Applications and the "rebound" history.

Bug fixes:

  • Corrected problems that could cause Default Folder X to switch folders in file dialogs slowly or not at all.
  • Resolved an issue that caused the cursor to disappear in file dialogs in macOS Sonoma.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in a default folder not working if it applied to only a specific file extension.
  • Fixed problems with keyboard focus and text selection in Save dialogs not working correctly under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented double-clicking on items in the Drag Zone from working on some systems.
  • Corrected an issue with Default Folder X's preview window failing to resize when a file dialog was moved.
  • Fixed a problem with Default Folder X getting stuck if you tried to go to a hidden iCloud Drive folder in a file dialog.
  • Resolved problems with slow or non-responsive file dialogs within Default Folder X's own settings window on Sonoma.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Default Folder X to show recent items in some system folders when it shouldn't have.
  • Resolved a bug when syncing settings via iCloud that could delete a folder set when iCloud Drive syncing failed in a particular manner.
  • Fixed a problem that could cause the keyboard to stop responding if you customized Default Folder X's menu to show recent items in the top level of the menu rather than in a submenu.
  • Corrected an issue that could result in Default Folder X's toolbar not aligning correctly with a file dialog after the dialog was moved from one display to another.
  • Reenabled the user defaults option to show a custom color icon in the menu bar.