Default Folder X 6.2.4 is available, and despite the minor bump in the version number, there are some significant improvements.
New services in Finder contextual menus
There are new commands in the Finder’s contextual menu:
Default Folder X: Copy
Default Folder X: Move
Default Folder X: Contents
They let you use Default Folder X’s hierarchical menus to Copy or Move selected files and folders, or pop up a hierarchical menu showing the Contents of a selected folder so you can navigate within it. Here’s the Copy command in action (you may have to click on the image if your browser doesn’t auto-play animated GIFs):
These are really useful when organizing files or digging into deep folder hierarchies in the Finder. The one complication is that you have to explicitly turn the commands on before you can use them.
To enable these new Default Folder X “services,” go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Files and Folders, then look for the Default Folder X commands and turn on the checkboxes next to them:
If you’ve got fewer than 5 commands enabled in the Files and Folders category, they’ll be listed directly in the Finder’s contextual menu when you Control-click (or right-click) on a selected file or folder. If you’ve got 5 or more services enabled, they’ll be listed in a Services submenu. And yeah, I wish they weren’t so buried in System Settings – that’s a lot of clicks just to get to the place where you manage them.
Always-On Path Display in File Dialogs
In Tahoe and Sequoia, holding down the Option key in an Open or Save dialog briefly shows the path of the currently selected item:
Default Folder X now offers the option to have the path permanently displayed. Just turn on the option here:
If you use it, you’ll notice that the path isn’t actually always on – if you mouse over it to select something in the file listing, or if there’s a selected item underneath it in the list, the path will hide itself until it’s no longer in your way. On the other hand, if you actually want to click on one of the intermediate folders in the path to go to it, hold down the Option key to prevent the path from hiding.
More New Stuff!
If you’re an AppleScript user (which usually means you’ve been using a Mac for more than 20 years 🙄), the new menu-based Move, Copy and Contents services I described above are also scriptable. In Default Folder X’s AppleScript dictionary, you’ll find the new verbs MoveUsingMenu and CopyUsingMenu, plus the ShowMenu verb has been expanded to take a folder as an argument so that you can pop up a hierarchical menu showing that folder’s contents.
Also, keyboard shortcuts in Default Folder X can now include the Fn (Globe) key. And finally, if you hold down the command key while choosing a folder set from the Folder Sets submenu, Default Folder X will switch to the new folder set, then pop its menu back up so you can select a file or folder in that folder set.
Bug Fixes
I’ve fixed a slew of little issues that we’ve come across in the last month. Gone are the graphical glitches in the path menu at the top of file dialogs and the slightly jagged corners and incorrect corner radii on some windows (yeah, all those differently rounded corners in Tahoe are confusing for developers too).
Compatibility issues with PasteBot, Paste and other apps that pop up a window to insert text have been fixed. I worked around a bug in Adobe apps that was causing visual artifacts and strange behavior in Open and Save dialogs. And problems with Default Folder X “seeing” QSpace Pro windows will be resolved as soon as QSpace Pro is updated.
When you’ve got “Make the filename editing field wider” turned on in Save dialogs, you’ll no longer have to click twice on items in the sidebar or on the Delete button. Plus the numpad Enter key will work consistently and the Option key will display the path of the current folder as it should.
And finally, the built-in crash logging has uncovered a few rare (and some very weird) crashes that have been addressed in this update.
Getting the Update
As usual, this update is free if you’ve purchased a license for Default Folder X version 6 – just select “Check for Update” from Default Folder X’s menu in your menu bar. Or if you’re not already running Default Folder X (and are thereby wasting your time futzing with files and folders) go to the What’s New page for download links and a full change log.
Version 1.9.5 of Jettison was released last week, addressing a couple of significant bugs. Jettison wasn’t correctly saving its settings for notification sounds, which resulted in a sound not being played if you selected a new one in the settings and then quit and relaunched Jettison. This update also fixes a problem with some disks not remounting after waking the system from sleep. This only occurred occasionally, and depended on how busy the system was when a disk was ejected – there was a race condition that could result in the disk being ignored if the system was very busy.
So, if you’re running into either of these issues, definitely make sure you grab the update. And even if you’re not, there’s really no reason not to update. The changes in this release are very targeted, and the update is free if you’ve already bought a license for Jettison.
As usual, you’ll find download links and a full change history on the What’s New page. Or if you’re already running Jettison, just choose “Check for Update” from its menu in your menu bar.
Version 6.2.3 of Default Folder X is available, and it delivers an array of improvements and fixes (like you couldn’t have guessed that 😁).
Quick Search now searches for open and recently closed Finder windows in addition to favorites and recent files, folders and apps. The Open With menu – which you can access by holding down the Command key and mousing over any file in Default Folder X’s menus – supplies a less overwhelming list of available applications. And Tahoe users will now see a full complement of menu item icons in Default Folder X’s menu:
I know the icons are a little thing, but the unbalanced look was driving me nuts with just the icons that Tahoe provides by default.
There’s also more accurate tracking of recently opened files when you’re using Java apps, and all recent files are shown when using a file dialog presented by Keyboard Maestro‘s macro engine. The font size in Default Folder X’s menus is adjustable via a Terminal command, and you can specify a minimum size for file dialogs (check out the release notes for details on those).
On the bug fix front, delays that some people experienced in Open and Save dialogs have been eliminated. And a bug in Tahoe that caused various failures in Default Folder X has been dealt with – it prevented the path menu in file dialogs from updating, caused the Quick Search keyboard shortcut to work unreliably, and got DFX’s list of Finder windows out of sync, among other things. The gist of it is that the macOS Accessibility API stops reporting that a user interface item has disappeared, and that could get Default Folder X quite confused. DFX now works around those missing signals by using other methods to get (roughly) the same information.
As usual, this update is free to everyone with a license for Default Folder X version 6 (thank you again!), and there’s a 30-day free trial if you haven’t tried Default Folder X yet (you really should!). Download links and full a list of the changes in version 6.2.3 are available on the What’s New page.
Version 6.2.2 of Default Folder X is available, adding support for the Bloom file manager and tinted folders in menus. It also allows you to toggle between opening a folder in a new Finder window vs. an existing one, and fixes a number of bugs.
Bloom is an excellent replacement for the Finder that offers multi-pane views, auto-resizing columns, sync browsing and much more. Default Folder X’s Finder-click feature sees its windows and will open files and folders in Bloom instead of the Finder.
Version 6.2.2 will also colorize folders in its menus when you tag them with a color in the Finder or Default Folder X.
In addition, when choosing a folder from Default Folder X’s menus you can now hold down the Option key to toggle whether it opens in a new Finder window or in the frontmost window. This also applies to Bloom or any of the other supported Finder-substitutes. And because I took the Folder Sets menu out of the default menu configuration in version 6, Default Folder X will now offer to add the Folder Sets menu if you don’t have one when you switch between folder sets in the Settings.
Finally, there are a bunch of bug fixes. While several are specifically for Tahoe issues, a number apply to all versions of macOS, so this update is recommended for all Default Folder X users, regardless of which version of macOS you’re using.
As usual, this update is free for anyone who has purchased a license for version 6 of Default Folder X. Just choose Check for Update from Default Folder X’s menu in your menu bar, or go to the What’s New page for download links and release notes.
Version 1.9.4 of Jettison is available, delivering better handling of its notification sounds and fine-tuning a few details for Tahoe. If you’ve purchased a license for Jettison, this update is free.
The most visible change in this release is the new liquid glass icon for macOS 26, which is optimized for Tahoe’s dark and clear icon styles as well as the default appearance.
In addition, Jettison’s notification sounds are now displayed with their localized names, making them consistent with what you see in the Sound settings in System Settings. And when Jettison plays them, they’ll be played at the volume of the system alert sounds rather than the overall system sound volume.
Version 1.9.4 also addresses a few bugs, and will automatically quit the PhotosReliveWidget and com.apple.amp.devicesui processes before sleep if they’re being run by the system. That ensures that those processes won’t keep files open on any external drives and interfere with Jettison ejecting the drives.
Release notes and a download link are available on the What’s New page. Or if you’re already running Jettison, just select “Check for Update” from its menu in your menu bar.
Version 6.2 of Default Folder X is available, delivering support for macOS 26 Tahoe as well as addressing a number of issues. This update is free if you’ve already purchased a license for version 6, and you can just select “Check for Update” from Default Folder X’s menu in your menu bar to get it.
While the headline feature for version 6.2 is its compatibility with macOS 26, it also includes a number of other changes that benefit users running any supported version of macOS (10.13 – 26.0). Default Folder X’s buttons in the Finder’s toolbar are more attractive and work better, and issues with Adobe apps have been addressed. The “Open With” menu that was introduced in version 6.1.7 works more smoothly, and there are new AppleScript commands for integrating with other apps such as Alfred.
In addition to that, a number of bugs have been squashed and little details have been improved. They’re listed in the change history on the What’s New page, along with download links for version 6.2 in various languages.
As always, thanks for your support, suggestions and bug reports. We couldn’t do this without you!
The newest public beta version of Default Folder X 6.2 is available – you can download Default Folder X 6.2b6 here. It includes quite a few fixes for various appearance niggles that weren’t quite right in Tahoe, as well as some improvements that affect users of older versions of macOS.
First, there’s a bug fix for incorrect drag-and-drop behavior in the Quick Search window. If you dragged an item out of your Quick Search results – to move it in the Finder or to open it in a particular app – the Quick Search window would just stay on screen afterwards. It now closes as it should when you drag and drop an item out of it. This impacted all versions of macOS.
An improvement for versions of macOS from Big Sur up to and including Tahoe are the new Finder toolbar buttons.
They’re now proper toolbar buttons, and work much more smoothly than the old ones. If you’re running 6.2b6, I’d appreciate it if you turn them on in the General tab of your Default Folder X settings and give me your feedback.
There’s a full list of changes on the Default Folder X beta testing page. The overall takeaway is that this build is more polished in its support of Tahoe’s new look, while also providing bug fixes for all supported versions of macOS. If you’re already running a 6.2 beta, just choose “Check for Update” from Default Folder X’s menu in your menu bar to get the new build.
We’re excited that Default Folder X has been chosen as Hookmark’s Partner of the Month for August! If you haven’t tried Hookmark yet, it’s a great tool for speeding up your workflow when you’re juggling information across multiple apps. Instead of hunting down emails, contacts, web pages, or notes over and over, Hookmark lets you link them all together and quickly jump between them.
If you’re a Default Folder X user, we know you value efficiency and easy navigation. Hookmark delivers that in spades when you’re integrating information from different applications — it really has no equivalent on the Mac.
What does Hookmark Do?
Hookmark works by creating special links — kind of like URLs, but instead of just opening web pages, these links open things on your Mac like calendar events, tasks, files, contacts, PDFs, notes, and even individual emails. The Hookmark website lists the many apps that support these links.
You then “hook” links together. For example, if you’re working on a report, you can hook your draft, client emails, research articles, and meeting notes, and instantly switch between them without any searching. It’s a cool way to think about how the pieces of your work connect. You simply pop up Hookmark’s contextual window or bookmark window and click on a link – it’s that easy to navigate between hooked information.
Hookmark + Default Folder X : Faster and Easier
If you use Default Folder X, you know how much it helps you quickly get to the right file or folder. With Hookmark, you can hook related websites, files and other information together to access them even faster! Open a recent file from Default Folder X’s menu, then use Hookmark to instantly navigate to any information you’ve hooked to that file – contacts, notes, to-do lists, websites – they’re all just a click away.
There’s also one more trick. Default Folder X’s integration into Save dialogs lets it create a Hookmark link the moment you save a file. That means the link is automatically copied to your clipboard and ready to use in Hookmark, saving you yet another step. For setup details, check out this blog post.
If you use CogSci Apps’ excellent Hookmark app to link together information on your Mac, you’re undoubtedly already enjoying how easily you can jump between files, notes, web pages, contacts, and other data you’ve hooked together. But did you know you can speed things up even more using Default Folder X?
Default Folder X enhances Save dialogs in a way that lets it process any file right after you save it. With this, you can automatically add a bookmark in Hookmark whenever you save a file in a specific app — making it instantly ready to hook to other related information.
Setting this up is simple: just add an AppleScript to Default Folder X’s Save Actions. To start, open a Save dialog in any app. Click the “Actions” tab below the Save dialog, then select “Send the saved file to the AppleScript” and click “Open Scripts folder in Finder.”
When the Scripts folder opens in Finder, download this file:
Unzip it and drag the “Bookmark with Hookmark.scpt” script into the Scripts folder. It will then appear in the Actions menu.
Now, when you save a file and want it automatically bookmarked in Hookmark, simply enable the “Bookmark with Hookmark” action below the Save dialog. Usually, you’ll want to check “Remember these actions next time” so Default Folder X always adds a bookmark for that app — saving you from having to enable it every time you save.
Build number 5 of the Default Folder X 6.2 public beta is available! It supports Apple’s latest macOS 26 Tahoe betas and even includes a glassy new icon created with Icon Composer 😁
The importance of this release depends on whether you’re using any of Adobe’s Creative Cloud 2025 apps. If you are, version 6.2b5 will solve problems with selecting or typing text into edit fields in Save dialogs. And although the Default Folder X betas are primarily for getting things working smoothly on Apple’s macOS 26 Tahoe beta releases, these fixes work on any supported version of macOS (10.13 High Sierra through 26 Tahoe). So yeah, if you’re running InDesign 2025, Illustrator 2025, or any other Adobe “2025” app, get Default Folder X 6.2b5.
This build also includes a second attempt to fix a rare bug that has shown up a few times in crash logs, but that I’m unable to reproduce here. The system is throwing an odd exception, but I can’t figure out how to cause it, so the included fix is my best guess at working around the issue. We’ll see if the crash logs stop trickling in 🤷🏻♂️ If you’re actually seeing a crash in Default Folder X, please get in touch!
