How to Get to the Right Folder in Every Open and Save Dialog on a Mac

You press ⌘S, and the Save dialog opens in a folder you used last week. Or an upload button shows Downloads, while the file you need is three levels down in a client folder. Almost every Mac app uses the same Open and Save dialogs, so the same few moves work everywhere.

The quickest fixes are built into macOS: press ⇧⌘G and type or paste a path, drag a folder from the Finder onto the dialog, or keep the folders you use in the sidebar. There is no setting for one default save folder in all apps: each app remembers the last folder you used in its own dialogs. For the folders you are working in right now, Folia Files goes one step further and docks a panel beside every Open and Save dialog, with the folder open in Folia Files, your favorites, recent files and folders, and the Shelf, each one click away.

Three shortcuts built into macOS

Type or paste a path with ⇧⌘G

In any Open or Save dialog, press ⇧⌘G to open Go to Folder. Type a path such as ~/Documents/Invoices (~ is your home folder), or paste one, then press ↩. The field completes folder names as you type and lists the places you went to recently. When the list of files has the focus, typing / or ~ opens Go to Folder directly.

It is the fastest way when you know where the folder is, or when its path is already in the clipboard: here is how to copy a file or folder path in the Finder.

Drag a folder onto the dialog

If the folder is open in a Finder window or sits on the desktop, drag it onto the Open or Save dialog: the dialog jumps there. It is handy when the folder you want is the one you were just looking at.

Keep your folders in the sidebar

The sidebar of Open and Save dialogs shows the Finder's Favorites. To add a folder, drag it into Favorites in the sidebar of a Finder window, or select it and choose File › Add to Sidebar (⌃⌘T). It then appears in the dialogs of every app. The pop-up menu at the top of the dialog, the one that shows the current folder's name, also lists the folders that contain it and Recent Places.

Why there is no default save location setting

macOS has no single setting for the folder that every Open and Save dialog starts in. Each app remembers the folder you last used in its own dialogs, which is why one app keeps opening in Downloads and another in Documents. A few apps, such as web browsers or the screenshot tool, let you choose where they save in their own settings. Everywhere else, the dialog starts where you last took it.

Your working folders next to every dialog

Folia Files is a file manager for the Mac, and its Open and Save assistant puts a panel beside the dialogs of every app. When a dialog appears, the panel docks to its right (or to its left when there is no room) and lists:

• Open in Folia Files: the folder shown in the active pane of each Folia Files window. If you were just looking at a client's folder, saving the invoice there takes one click.
• Finder Windows: the folders open in the Finder.
• Favorites: the favorites of Folia Files' sidebar. Each folder unfolds with its triangle, so you can reach a subfolder without leaving the panel.
• Recent Files (in Open dialogs only), Recent Folders, Locations (your home folder, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, iCloud Drive) and Volumes.
• Recently in followed by the app's name: the folders you reached through the panel in that app.
• The Shelf, at the bottom.

One click, and the dialog goes there

Click a folder and the dialog moves to it. Click a recent file in an Open dialog and it is selected, ready to open. Folia Files does this with the dialog's own Go to Folder field: it fills in the path and confirms it, as you would after ⇧⌘G. The panel reacts to the first click without bringing Folia Files to the front, so the app you are working in stays where it is.

Type a few letters or a path

The field at the top, Filter, or type a path (/ or ~), narrows the list to the folders whose name contains what you type. Start with / or ~ and it becomes a path browser: it lists the matching subfolders, ⇥ completes the selected one, ↑ and ↓ move through the list, and ↩ takes the dialog there; ⎋ clears the field. With the field empty, ↓ selects a folder, and → and ← unfold and fold it.

Files waiting on the Shelf

The Shelf is where Folia Files keeps the files you want at hand. In the panel, a click on one of its folders takes the dialog there; a click on a file selects it in an Open dialog, and gives its folder to a Save dialog. You can also drag items from the Shelf onto the dialog, or drop files on the Shelf to keep them for later.

Right-click and options

Right-click a folder for New Folder Here… (it creates the folder and takes the dialog into it), Add to Favorites, Copy Path, Show in Folia Files and Show in Finder. The ⋯ button offers Never Show in followed by the app's name, Assistant Settings… and Turn Off Assistant, and the chevron folds the panel into a thin strip.

Turning it on

The assistant needs macOS's Accessibility permission: it is what lets an app see another app's dialogs and fill in their fields. Folia Files says it uses it only to detect Open and Save dialogs and enter the chosen path in them.

• Website edition: choose Tools › Open/Save Dialog Assistant…, click Open Settings, then turn on Folia Files in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility.
• Mac App Store edition: Apple doesn't let sandboxed apps use Accessibility, so the assistant comes with Folia Files Companion, a free app from foliafiles.com/companion. Once the companion is installed in Applications and opened once, the assistant appears, and it is Folia Files Companion that you turn on under Accessibility. Without the companion, the App Store edition doesn't show the assistant at all.

The rest is in Settings › Open / Save. Test Now opens an Open dialog in another app to check that the panel shows up, each section of the panel has its own switch, the panel can start collapsed, Remember the folders used in each app keeps the "Recently in" section, and Excluded Apps lists the apps where it never appears.

Folia Files or Default Folder X?

Default Folder X, from St. Clair Software, is the long-standing paid app for exactly this problem. It adds menus of recent, favorite and open folders to Open and Save dialogs, opens or saves to a Finder window's folder in one click, gives favorite folders keyboard shortcuts, can set a default folder for each app, and adds panels where you preview files and add tags and comments as you save. If you rely on those extras, or want a fixed default folder in each app, it goes further inside the dialog itself.

Folia Files covers the everyday part: the folders you are working in, your favorites, recent items and the Shelf, one click from any dialog. The rest of the time, it is the file manager you use instead of the Finder. This comparison puts the two side by side. If you keep Default Folder X, turn off Folia Files' assistant so that only one panel appears next to your dialogs.