3 Comments

How-to: Make OS X save dialog box useful

November 18, 2006 by in Apple,Geeky,Howto with 3 Comments

OS X users are completely aware of the ever so helpful save dialog box which is enabled by default. Check the screenshot below for an example of one. Minimal, limited, yet simple enough for the average user with most save directories being those found within your Home directory.

Default save dialog box

Fortunately, the limitations of the above save dialog box (default) can be expanded into something like that found below. Toggling between the two is as simple as clicking the small arrow adjacent to the “Save as:” text field.

Full save dialog box

Want the full featured save dialog box to display by default when saving documents & files? A little Terminal action will solve your frustrations. Open up Terminal found at ‘Applications > Utilities > Terminal’ and type the following [via]:

defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE

Once the change has been made, enjoy the convenience of the full featured save dialog box without having to toggle between that less convenient alternative.


  • Roger

    THANKS! I NEVER would have found that on my own, no more toggling for me.

  • Justin

    I actually like the toggling. it makes it minimal when i want it. thanks for mentioning it though. i’ll search the archive in the future if i ever need it. =)

  • http://www.progoth.com Steven

    I’ve got the habit of hitting cmd-shift-g in save dialogs (and open dialogs and finder).

    The dialog that comes up is for switching directories. ~ is expanded to your home directory, and tab-completion works just like in an interactive shell.

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