I purchased Direct Folders today because my trial period ran up, and I found it to be indispensable. Whether for work, play, or activities in between, I routinely wrangle many, many folders. I can't stand how inelegant the Windows XP Open/Save File dialog is compared to Mac OS X sometimes, and I don't understand why it's not more customizable off-the-bat. After all, being able to navigate and get to your files with a minimum fuss is a significant part of the user experience!
After saving snapshots from Second Life and finding I had to wade through nested directories one too many times, wasting many double-clicks in the process, I found out about Direct Folders from one of my fave productivity sites, Lifehacker.
Some of my fave features:
- Being able to change the 5 quick-access locations ("My Places" bar) on the left of the Open/Save File dialog
- Double-clicking on the desktop brings up the DF menu, letting you get to any of your fave folders, fast!
- Recent list shows global AND application-specific directories
All in all, there isn't a lot I have to explain, because Direct Folders works simply and effectively. There's even a rudimentary Flash tutorial.
I already reported a bug: the fact that Direct Folders isn't fully compatible with dual monitors, and the file dialog comes up on the primary monitor. Not a big fuss for my workflow, but still, would be nice to fix — mouse travel distance gets tiring!
Also, it appears like some dialog boxes, e.g. IE7's File menu > Save As, don't get automatically resized. I'll be keeping an eye on that, and filing more bug reports as they come along. (Helps that I do it in my day job, huh?)
If you do decide to buy Direct Folders after giving it a good run, note that directfolders.com lists it for $19.95, but you can acquire Direct Folders for $9.97 from this page.
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December 24th, 2006 at 4:41 PM PST
*hijacks blog*
Merry Christmas to both you and Ravie! May this christmas be full of fun and excitment for not only the two of you, but for all your family and friends too!
Hopefully 2007 will be a year where all your dreams are realised and bought into reality! =^.^=
*scampers off for Christmas Day lunch*
December 25th, 2006 at 2:55 PM PST
You might be interested in PowerFolder, too, if you need to keep a few folders synchronized between two or more computers. I'm using it right now while I'm out of town, works great!
http://www.powerfolder.com/
December 26th, 2006 at 3:25 PM PST
Thanx Nanaki! — did you mean to post on the other entry? For some reason, I've been seeing odd problems where comments meant for one entry appear on another. Not sure why… I need a repro… hrmmm. Hope you had a Merry Xmas too… onwards and upwards into 2007!
Vyrnox, I'll check that out! It's not a big need of mine currently, but in the future as I intend to get more mobile, it could be a boon!
December 26th, 2006 at 5:59 PM PST
Nope.This was the only entry here when I posted and ran. When I came back though, there was another Happy Holidays entry, which admittedly this comment wouldve been more suited for… but its all about time and location I guess. =P
March 27th, 2008 at 9:54 PM PDT
For anyone who doesn't want to really waste their money or time downloading installing and setting up they can just simply follow this easy tutorial for modifying their system directly with the folders they want on the open and save dialogs;
http://www.filiberto.org/archive/2006/06/how-to-configure-windows-opensave-dialogue-to-meet-your-needs/
I just thought that there must be a way to do this easier and google'd up a solution that doesn't require spending money or installing strange software that would just clutter up and hog the system.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:39 PM PDT
@Nexii: I don't like crapware, but in this case, I make a strong recommendation for Direct Folders. Plus, it offers direct access features which that hack doesn't cover. Always good to be aware of tools + techniques, tho!