Clicking on the "Prefs窶ｦ" button will bring up the dialog shown below. Default Folder's settings are grouped into several sections. To move between these sections, use the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog.
File Dialog Menus
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Put pop-up menus in file dialogs.
Check this box to include the Default Folder pop-up menu in file dialogs. The remaining options in this section pertain to various aspects of the pop-up menu.
Auto-remove deleted folders from menu.
Before a file dialog comes up, Default Folder can check to see if all the folders in its menu still exist. If any have been deleted, it removes them from the pop-up menu. This is very friendly, but may be slower, especially on a network. Unchecking this box will defeat this feature, making the file dialogs appear more rapidly. You may, however, occasionally end up with nonexistent folders in the menu. This does no harm, but will result in a warning message if you try to use that menu item.
Include 窶ｦ recently used folders in menu.
This option tracks folders as you use them and displays them as items in the pop-up folder menu. This allows you to go back to a folder you recently used when saving or opening a file. Clicking on the small arrows next to the number changes the number of folders that will be shown in the menu.
Clicking the "Sort Chronologically" radio button results in the folders in the menu being sorted by the order in which you visited them, while "Sort Alphabetically" sorts them by name.
Show utility menu.
You can turn the middle utility menu in file dialogs on and off separately using this checkbox. For network administrators or users with small children, turning the utility menu off can deter users from changing Default Folder's settings, modifying file information, and moving items to the Trash. The following two options are only available if the utility menu is turned on.
Allow moving files to the Trash.
When turned on, this feature adds a menu item to Default Folder's folder menu that moves the selected file or folder to the Trash. If novice users or small children are using your Mac, you may want to keep this turned off.
Provide "Get Info" command.
This option adds a menu to the folder menu that shows various information about the selected file or folder in a file dialog.
Clicking the "Novice" button will let you view the file or folder's creation and modification dates, size, type, and creator. It also allows you to edit the file name, which can be very handy if you accidentally hit a wrong key while typing a file name and don't realize it before clicking "OK."
"Expert" mode allows you to edit the characteristics of the file as well as view them. Note that this can be dangerous -- use this feature with caution! Changing a file's type, creator, or Finder information can render it unopenable or completely invisible! More details about the meaning of the fields and Finder flags can be found in the "Advanced Topics" chapter of this manual. Note that using the "Option-open to display all files" option in the General Preferences will allow you to modify information for any file, not just the ones available to the current application.
Show available disk space in disk menu.
This option displays the amount of space free on each disk in the disk menu.
Go to last used folder when switching disks.
Turning on this option makes Default Folder remember the last folder you used on each disk. When you switch between disks, Default Folder will return you to that folder rather than to the top level of the disk.
Command Keys
This section of the preferences dialog allows you to associate command key equivalents with the major functions in the pop-up menus. Simply click in the box you want to change, then type the new key.
Note that Default Folder also provides keys for switching between the permanent and recently used folders in the folder menu:
窶｢ Option-Left Arrow: Go to the previous permanently locked folder.
窶｢ Option-Right Arrow: Switch to the next permanently locked folder.
窶｢ Option-Up Arrow: Move to the previous recently used folder.
窶｢ Option-Down Arrow: Switch to the next most recently used folder.
Use command key without pop-up menu.
This feature allows you to use the command keys even when you've turned off Default Folder's pop-up menus (see the "File Dialog Menu" section, above).
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General Settings
Show Default Folder cursor during disk access.
Default Folder needs to access the disk each time you change settings in the control panel or when you use the "Remove deleted folders from menu" option. Checking the "Show cursor" box will instruct Default Folder to display a cursor while it is doing disk access. This feature is useful as a means of determining how much time Default Folder requires to accomplish these operations.
Rebound to last selected file.
This turns on a feature that remembers the last file you selected in an application's file dialog box, and reselects it the next time you use a file dialog.
Turn off pretty icons in file dialogs.
With the release of System Update 3.0 for System 7.1, and later in Systems 7.5 and 7.6, Apple began displaying the actual document icons in the file lists within Open and Save dialogs. While this can give you a much faster visual cue about which files are which, it can slow down the display of the files, especially across slower networks or when you're using Appletalk Remote Access (ARA). Clicking this checkbox disables this feature.
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Option-open to display all files.
When this checkbox is turned on, holding down the option key while bringing up a file dialog will cause Default Folder to display all documents in the file dialog rather than just those that the application can open. This is useful if you want to change the file information for a file that the application does not recognize, or if you have made a file or folder invisible.
Switch folders by clicking on Finder windows.
When this option is turned on, Default Folder switches the folder shown in a file dialog whenever you click on the Desktop or on a window shown by the Finder. If you have a folder open on the desktop, click on it to make the file dialog display that folder. If the window you want is underneath the file dialog, simply grab an edge of the dialog to drag it to a different location.
When a file already exists, make "Replace" the default button instead of "Cancel".
If you try to save a file and you give it the same name as a file that already exists, the system will ask if you want to replace the existing one. When it asks, it puts up a dialog with "Cancel" as the default button (i.e. if you hit the return key, it will click "Cancel" for you). This is the safer option, but can get irritating when you need to do this over and over again. Turning on this option makes the "Replace" button the default instead.
Folder Switching
Note: The following settings are usually only useful when managing Macintoshes that are used by more than one person, such as those in classrooms or public computer clusters. On a Macintosh dedicated to a single user, they will generally make life more difficult.
Switch to an application's default folder every time a file dialog is used.
If checked, this feature makes Default Folder switch to an application's default folder every time a file dialog comes up. For Mac managers trying to dissuade users from saving files on a server or in application folders, this can be useful as an additional deterrent.
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Switch to an application's default folder the first time after starting with a document.
If checked, this feature tells Default Folder to switch to an application's default folder even when the application is launched by double-clicking on a document. This feature is primarily useful to network administrators who use stationery documents as a means of letting users start applications.
