Here are some questions and problems that people often encounter when using Default Folder X.

Before consulting this list, please check to make sure you are running the latest version, which is Default Folder X 4.0.5. If you need an update, you can get one by clicking on the download link in the right margin of this page. If you have a problem that is not addressed here or feel a question should be here but isn't, please send mail to support@stclairsoft.com

General Questions

Default Folder X Compatibility

General Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 4.x

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 3.x

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 2.x

General Questions

The new version of Default Folder X is telling me I need to upgrade. What's going on?

If you purchased an older version of Default Folder X before June 1, 2007, there is an upgrade fee of $14.95 (US) for version 4.0 . If you are a registered user of a previous version, Default Folder X will check the registration code stored in your preference file and let you know if you need to upgrade. If you no longer have your registration code, please use our registration code request form to have us look it up for you.

If you don't see any messages, then you purchased your copy on or after June 1 and there's no upgrade fee required. Of course, if you just love Default Folder X so much that you want to purchase an upgrade anyway, we won't argue :-)

If Default Folder X tells you that you need to upgrade, just go to http://www.stclairsoft.com/store/ and make your purchase. Please use the same name that appears on your old registration to ensure that we can verify your eligibility for the upgrade.

If you choose not to upgrade at this time, you can download Default Folder X 3.0.6 and continue to use it with your current registration code. Version 3.0.6 will remain an optional download in the right hand margin of all of the Default Folder X web pages.

Does Default Folder X patch my system?

Default Folder X does not patch Mac OS X, but it does extend individual applications when they are launched. This means that Default Folder X loads a small piece of program code into each application's memory space (in RAM) so that it can communicate with Navigation Services, the OS X service that provides the Open and Save dialogs. Default Folder does not make any changes to your application or system files. Simply turning off Default Folder X or removing it from your system will completely remove it and all of its effects.

Default Folder X has been carefully designed and tested, but there is still a possibility that it may cause undesirable behavior or instability in an application. Fortunately, the robust design of Mac OS X isolates those effects to the application that is affected - Default Folder X cannot crash Mac OS X itself.

If you do encounter problems, please let us know at support@stclairsoft.com. We try our best to make sure that our products work seamlessly with the applications you need.

What applications does Default Folder X support?

Default Folder X enhances the Open and Save dialogs in both Carbon and Cocoa applications, so it should appear in all OS X-native applications. Default Folder X does not currently enhance the Open and Save dialogs in Java applications. For more on compatibility, see below.

If I use Keyboard Maestro, how can I exclude Default Folder X from its program switcher?

If you click "Add Application" in Keyboard Maestro's Excluded Applications preferences, you won't be able to add Default Folder X because the Default Folder X application is stored inside the Default Folder X.prefPane "package". To add it:

1. Run Keyboard Maestro, click on its "Preferences" tab, and select "Excluded Applications" from the popup menu.
2. Switch to the Finder and create a new Finder window. Click on the "Home" button in the window's toolbar, and then find and open the Library folder. Within the Library folder, find and open the PreferencePanes folder.
3. In the PreferencePanes folder, locate the file "Default Folder X.prefPane". Select it and then control-click it to bring up the Finder's contextual menu. Select "Show Package Contents" from the menu. This will open a new window.
4. In the new window, open the "Contents" folder, and within that, open the "Resources" folder. You will see a Default Folder X icon there.
5. Drag and drop the Default Folder X icon into Keyboard Maestro's Excluded Applications list. This should add it to Keyboard Maestro's preferences.

When I use FoldersSynchronizer X, why doesn't Default Folder X's toolbar appear?

Default Folder X cannot patch applications that are running with root permissions. FoldersSynchronizer has a preference that allows you to run it as root, and when you do so, Default Folder X can not enhance its Open and Save dialogs. This is a security restriction built into OS X and cannot be circumvented.

Can Default Folder X make "Replace" the default button in the "Are you sure you want to replace that file?" alert?

This was never added to Default Folder X because you can press Command-R to activate the "Replace" button in those alerts. We didn't think it was worth the potential compatibility problems to provide a redundant feature.

Default Folder X Compatibility

Does Default Folder X work with Leopard?

Yes, Default Folder 4.0.5 has been designed specifically for Leopard and Tiger, and we recommend that all users running Mac OS 10.4 or higher upgrade to version 4.0.5

Default Folder X 3.0.6 also works with Leopard, though there are some minor compatibility issues. The primary one is that Default Folder X doesn't enhance 64-bit applications, so it won't work with Xcode 3.0. There is also a problem with it not recognizing when a folder is selected in the new icon view in Leopard Open and Save dialogs, resulting in the Get Info, Move to Trash, and Rename commands not allowing you to make changes to a folder until you switch views. Both of these problems (and a number of other compatibility issues) have been addressed in version 4.0.5.

Note that version 4.0.5 continues to support Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) as well as Leopard (10.5), so you can download it regardless of which version of OS X you're running and upgrade to Leopard whenever it's convenient.

Does Default Folder X work on Intel-based Macintoshes?

Yes, Default Folder X 3.0 and 4.0.5 are both Universal Applications that both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macintoshes.

What version of Default Folder X do I need?

For most users, we strongly recommend the latest version of Default Folder X, 4.0.5. Version 4.0.5 works correctly in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) through 10.5 (Leopard). If you are still using OS X 10.3, you'll need to download Default Folder X 3.0.6.

Finally, if you're running a PowerPC Mac and would like to have Default Folder X in your Classic applications, you will need to install a copy of Default Folder 3.1.5. Registered users are entitled to a free copy of Default Folder 3.1.5, so just drop us a line at support@stclairsoft.com to ask for a registration code.

Does Default Folder X work in Classic Applications?

If you are running older applications in the Classic environment, you will need to install a copy of Default Folder 3.1.5 in order to take advantage of Default Folder in Classic applications. Please contact us at support@stclairsoft.com to get a registration code for Default Folder 3.1.5.

Can I make Default Folder X appear in an Applescript applet's file dialog?

In AppleScript applets there is a situation in which Default Folder X won't appear. Because Default Folder X takes a few seconds to start up inside an application once that application is launched, an AppleScript applet that displays a file dialog box immediately after it starts up will not be enhanced. Default Folder X doesn't have time to get itself set up before the file dialog appears. The best solution for this is to add a delay of a few seconds at the beginning of the AppleScript using the Delay verb.

General Troubleshooting

How do I delete my preference file? Default Folder X is crashing, behaving strangely, or is causing other applications to crash.

This is almost always caused by damage to Default Folder X's preference file. Please use the steps below to remove your preference file:

1. Open System Preferences, select Default Folder X, and turn it off. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. If you do not turn off Default Folder X first, it will simply write damaged preference data into a new preference file after you delete the old one.
2. Quit System Preferences.
3. Open a new window in the Finder and go to your home folder. Within that, locate and open the Library folder, and within that, open the Preferences folder.
4. Find the file named "com.stclairsoft.DefaultFolderX.plist" in the Preferences folder and throw it in the Trash.
5. Open System Preferences, reconfigure any settings you need, re-enter your registration code, and turn Default Folder X back on.

If System Preferences freezes when you try to select Default Folder X, click on Accounts in System Preferences instead. In Accounts, click on Login Items, remove Default Folder X from the list there, then log out and log back in again. This will prevent Default Folder X from writing a new preference file when you delete the old one.

Leopard is repeatedly telling me that "Default Folder X" and "Default Folder X Helper" have been downloaded from the Internet, then asking me if it's OK to run them. How do I stop it from doing this?

This is due to a problem in Leopard's "quarantine" system. It can't mark the application as "safe" if you install Default Folder X "for all users" because you don't have permission to write to the application files. This is now handled for you automatcially in the Default Folder X installer, but in certain circumstances, you may still see warnings. If you do, please download and run this AppleScript:

http://www.stclairsoft.com/download/DefaultFolderX-StopWarnings.zip

When Default Folder X switches to a new folder, it takes me to the folder that contains the one I asked for.

This most often happens when switching to a folder that resides on a file server or other external disk. To fix the problem, do the following:

1. Unmount the problem disk by dragging it to the Trash.
2. Go to any open window in the Finder and press cmd-shift-G.
3. Type in "/Volumes" and click th OK button.
4. You should see a folder with aliases for all of your drives. Throw any aliases to the problem disk or server in the Trash.
5. Log back in to the server or mount the external disk you dragged to the Trash in step #1.

Default Folder X should now take you to the right folder when you select one from a menu or click on one in a Finder window.

Default Folder X isn't appearing in the Open and Save dialogs in Adobe Creative Suite applications.

Adobe applications can be configured to use their own Open and Save dialogs instead of the ones provided by Mac OS X. Default Folder X does not support these, so you must turn on the system dialogs instead.

There's a button in the Open/Place/Save dialogs in InDesign, Photoshop, and other Creative Suite applications that lets you switch between Adobe dialogs and the OS dialogs. You need to press that button to use the OS dialogs and then Default Folder X will work correctly.

I have installed Default Folder X for all users on my machine, but it will not run for users configured with limitations.

If you set limitations on a user account so that a user can only run certain applications, you must add the Default Folder X background applications to the list so that they can be run at startup. To do this, take the following steps:

1. In the Finder, locate Default Folder X.prefPane (I assume you have it installed for all users by putting it in /Library/PreferencePanes).
2. Once you have located it, control-click on the Default Folder X.prefPane file and choose "Show Package Contents" from the popup menu.
3. When the contents window opens, open the "Contents" folder, then the "Resources" folder within it. You will see two applications, "Default Folder X" and "Default Folder X BG".
4. Open System Preferences, choose the Accounts preferences, and select the desired user and go to the Startup Items tab.
5. Drag the two Default Folder X applications into the application list and turn on the checkboxes to give the user permission to run them.

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 4.x

Default Folder X crashes or slows to a crawl when it displays some previews.

This is a problem that was fixed in version 4.0.1.

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 3.x

When I turn on Default Folder X, it turns itself off again.

This is often caused by incorrect permissions on your Scripting Additions folder. Please do the following:

1. In the Finder, locate the folder HOME/Library/ScriptingAdditions.
2. Select the ScriptingAdditions folder and choose Get Info from the File menu.
3. Find the "Ownership & Permissions" section of the Get Info window. You may have to click the triangle to the left of the section to display the settings.
4. Change the popup menu so that you have "Read & Write" enabled.
5. Close the Get Info window and turn on Default Folder X in System Preferences.

Troubleshooting Default Folder X 2.x

I have a copy of Default Folder X in my Trash, but emptying the Trash doesn't get rid of it.

There was an error in the settings of some Finder flags on a few files in version 2.0.2 of the "Default Folder X.prefPane" bundle. Because of this, the Finder will not delete copies of that version of Default Folder X from the Trash. This problem has been fixed in the latest version of Default Folder X, but you have to go out of your way to delete the old copies that are stuck in the Trash. You can do this with FileXaminer, which you can download from:

http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/filexaminer.html

Once you download it, run FileXaminer and choose Force Empty Trash from the Special menu.

I updated Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" and now Safari and other applications are crashing.

This is due to a compatibility problem in Default Folder X 2.0.1 and earlier versions. Download and install the latest version of Default Folder X and the crashes will disappear.