Problem- save file dialog navigation is messed up

A Little Peaved! · 02-22-2003, 01:15 PM

Navigation on my mac when saving files is messed up...

When the "save file" dialog appears, it always defaults to saving above the root level... for example, the list of hard drives appears as the default place to save.

Even worse, the startup drive is sometimes selected... but even when it is selected, it's contents are not always listed! And, it gets worse than that... sometimes, partial contents are listed! for example, the first files/folders on the disk, or the last files/folders. Manually selecting the drive always works to display the full list of disk contents.

The next problem- installed demo Default Folder X. Default Folder X has feature to turn rebounding on, and also has menus for quick navigation to recent file/folders.

Well, despite the rebound feature, saving dialog always defaults to the list of drives.

Second, selecting a recent folder from the Default Folder menu has no effect the first time it is selected. Then, the second time it is selected, it works OK and the save dialog goes to the chosen folder.

What is going on here?

How to fix it?

PS- Mac OS X 10.2.4 and Default Folder X 1.6.5, but the problem(s) started earlier, prior to updating to these most recent versions of OS X and Default Folder. No other weird problems that I am aware of, everything else has been working fine...

thank you in advance...

baffled

A Little Peaved! · 02-24-2003, 10:50 PM

PS- Is this a standard Mac OS X behavior, or is there some other problem here?

mervTormel · 02-24-2003, 10:54 PM

the rig here doesn't exhibit this behavior; open/save dialogs rebound. peeve-less karma, perhaps.

A Little Peaved! · 02-24-2003, 11:11 PM

thanks for the info.

that narrows it down...

the problem occurs only when saving from chimera, other apps are OK, opening files in chimera is OK.

smells like a bug in chimera

A Little Peaved! · 02-25-2003, 03:28 PM

Saving from TextEdit shows same bad behavior, therefore this problem is not unique to chimera.

Saving from most other apps seems OK, though.

This is a strange problem.

Is there some kind of permissions issue? or preference file?

Disk Utility verifies and ran repair permissions OK.

1. What would cause Navigation Services to always default to topmost level when saving?

2. Why would next folder level not appear, or only partially appear, if the volume is already pre-highlighted in the save dialog?

questions...

A Little Peaved! · 02-26-2003, 02:40 PM

More info-

1. Problem is NOT Default Folder, same problem(s) exist without it present.

2. Of the three scenarios (Drive:nothing, Drive:folders, Drive:some folders shown), when "some folders" are shown, it is actually the user's Documents folder, so Drive:Users:myusername:Documents, but it appears as Drive:Documents in the dialog.

weird and frustrating

any clues?

A Little Peaved! · 02-26-2003, 02:43 PM

ugh, ":" +"D"+ on this forum inserts a smilie

, so please read above post accordingly. thanks

[a little while later] ah, fixed now. thanks, schwartze!

schwartze · 02-26-2003, 03:15 PM

you can click on Disable smilies in this post if you want to change them to the characters

A Little Peaved! · 03-02-2003, 10:23 AM

more info-

1. Occurs only with Cocoa apps, and seems to affect all Cocoa apps, even if sometimes it is an intermittent problem. Carbon apps are immune. This seems to indicate bug in Cocoa or Mac OS X navigation services.

2. Others have privately confirmed problem affects them, so it also seems not isolated.

Probably time to report this one to Apple.

A Little Peaved! · 03-06-2003, 01:28 PM

things get weirder, but perhaps found fix-

somewhere i learned that option-clicking while resizing the save dialog changes the column-widths, so i tried experimenting with it.

(i still don't really know the mechanics of the option-resizing, but it does change the column-widths, which is a big improvement over the horrible too-narrow default column-widths.)

anyhow, after option-resizing the dialog, it then behaves properly! rebounding works OK, correct subdirectories are always displayed for highlighted volumes.

the option-resizing has to be done separately for each application. (btw, it seems that only Cocoa apps have had this problem, so it may be a cocoa bug, or cocoa-specific OS X bug.)

after option-resizing, the fix seems to be permanent, and the things consistently work OK afterwards.

VERY weird, any further theories would be most welcome!

02-22-2003, 01:15 PM	#1
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	Please help!- Problem? Save file dialog navigation is messed up Navigation on my mac when saving files is messed up... When the "save file" dialog appears, it always defaults to saving above the root level... for example, the list of hard drives appears as the default place to save. Even worse, the startup drive is sometimes selected... but even when it is selected, it's contents are not always listed! And, it gets worse than that... sometimes, partial contents are listed! for example, the first files/folders on the disk, or the last files/folders. Manually selecting the drive always works to display the full list of disk contents. The next problem- installed demo Default Folder X. Default Folder X has feature to turn rebounding on, and also has menus for quick navigation to recent file/folders. Well, despite the rebound feature, saving dialog always defaults to the list of drives. Second, selecting a recent folder from the Default Folder menu has no effect the first time it is selected. Then, the second time it is selected, it works OK and the save dialog goes to the chosen folder. What is going on here? How to fix it? PS- Mac OS X 10.2.4 and Default Folder X 1.6.5, but the problem(s) started earlier, prior to updating to these most recent versions of OS X and Default Folder. No other weird problems that I am aware of, everything else has been working fine... thank you in advance... baffled Last edited by A Little Peaved!; 02-22-2003 at 10:10 PM.

02-25-2003, 03:28 PM	#5
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	Saving from TextEdit shows same bad behavior, therefore this problem is not unique to chimera. Saving from most other apps seems OK, though. This is a strange problem. Is there some kind of permissions issue? or preference file? Disk Utility verifies and ran repair permissions OK. 1. What would cause Navigation Services to always default to topmost level when saving? 2. Why would next folder level not appear, or only partially appear, if the volume is already pre-highlighted in the save dialog? questions... Last edited by A Little Peaved!; 02-25-2003 at 03:30 PM.

02-26-2003, 02:40 PM	#6
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	More info- 1. Problem is NOT Default Folder, same problem(s) exist without it present. 2. Of the three scenarios (Drive:nothing, Drive:folders, Drive:some folders shown), when "some folders" are shown, it is actually the user's Documents folder, so Drive:Users:myusername:Documents, but it appears as Drive:Documents in the dialog. weird and frustrating any clues? Last edited by A Little Peaved!; 02-26-2003 at 04:05 PM.

02-26-2003, 02:43 PM	#7
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	ugh, ":" +"D"+ on this forum inserts a smilie , so please read above post accordingly. thanks [a little while later] ah, fixed now. thanks, schwartze! Last edited by A Little Peaved!; 02-26-2003 at 04:06 PM.

02-24-2003, 10:50 PM	#2
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	PS- Is this a standard Mac OS X behavior, or is there some other problem here?

02-24-2003, 10:54 PM	#3
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	the rig here doesn't exhibit this behavior; open/save dialogs rebound. peeve-less karma, perhaps.

02-24-2003, 11:11 PM	#4
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	thanks for the info. that narrows it down... the problem occurs only when saving from chimera, other apps are OK, opening files in chimera is OK. smells like a bug in chimera

02-26-2003, 03:15 PM	#8
schwartze MVP Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: NYC Posts: 1,005	you can click on Disable smilies in this post if you want to change them to the characters

03-02-2003, 10:23 AM	#9
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	more info- 1. Occurs only with Cocoa apps, and seems to affect all Cocoa apps, even if sometimes it is an intermittent problem. Carbon apps are immune. This seems to indicate bug in Cocoa or Mac OS X navigation services. 2. Others have privately confirmed problem affects them, so it also seems not isolated. Probably time to report this one to Apple.

03-06-2003, 01:28 PM	#10
A Little Peaved! Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 463	things get weirder, but perhaps found fix- somewhere i learned that option-clicking while resizing the save dialog changes the column-widths, so i tried experimenting with it. (i still don't really know the mechanics of the option-resizing, but it does change the column-widths, which is a big improvement over the horrible too-narrow default column-widths.) anyhow, after option-resizing the dialog, it then behaves properly! rebounding works OK, correct subdirectories are always displayed for highlighted volumes. the option-resizing has to be done separately for each application. (btw, it seems that only Cocoa apps have had this problem, so it may be a cocoa bug, or cocoa-specific OS X bug.) after option-resizing, the fix seems to be permanent, and the things consistently work OK afterwards. VERY weird, any further theories would be most welcome!