Default path for save or export

**Ken Anderson** · 27 July 2012, 04:49 AM

When saving or exporting with XDP-X, it wants to default to "My Documents" ... and this is a huge pain in the posterior. All previous versions have remembered the last folder accessed, which in most cases is the folder where I'm currently working (sometimes gets confused if I've got multiple .xar files open at once, but that typically forces me to simply go up one level and choose a different folder). Marching from "My Documents" to the right place in my folder structure, which has "html" as the top level, plus a sub-folder for each of several versions of Xara's products, plus sub-folders for the client and/or project, means not only an annoying and time-consuming bunch of clicks for every save or export, but that's error-prone, too.

After initially experimenting with this product (I bought it immediately upon release in April) I quit using it and stayed with XDP7 for this reason alone. Tonight (July 26) I decided to try it again, and was prompted to load an update. I hoped this awful glitch would be fixed. It's not.

Maybe there's a way to set the default path, and I haven't found it. Frankly, I'm so annoyed at this that I haven't spent much effort trying to find a solution. I'll resume using XDP-X when this roadblock is removed. I'm not inclined to invest in the next revision of the program if there's a chance it will still be this cumbersome to use. This very happy and committed Xara user would like to stay that way, but no matter which wonderful new features may be introduced in the future, this problem alone is sufficient reason to pass on upgrades.

Am I doing something wrong? Overlooking something? I've been using Xara (first Xtreme, then WD since its initial release), and have never before found a single thing to complain about. This is really a nuisance, and a blemish on a wonderful product.

Help! I REALLY want to be a happy user of XDP-X!

**gwpriester** · 27 July 2012, 04:15 PM

Don't think me facetious (moi?) but why don't you save in My Documents?

I agree that it is a pain in the buttsky, but there is a My Documents folder icon right in the Save dialog.

I know this is not always where you want to save your files (I save mine on my D drive). But it is where Microsoft thinks you should save your files.

I have argued that it makes sense to remember which folder you publish your website to, and I don't think this ever got addressed either.

But sometimes I have found it's easier just to go with the flow. Life is not perfect.

**scruffy.thedog** · 30 July 2012, 05:56 PM

yes it would be nice if each project 'remembered' the file path for that project where it was last saved

**gwpriester** · 30 July 2012, 06:20 PM

I have moved this to Dear Xara as this is really a feature request.

**ad1066** · 30 July 2012, 06:50 PM

What I took Ken to mean is that he has multiple subfolders in My Documents, sometimes several levels deep, and has to keep drilling down each time he wants to export a document.

-- Ben

**amoore** · 30 July 2012, 07:55 PM

Is this path request specifically about web design projects?

Blessedly, when I save a non-web document, it goes to the last folder to which I saved a file. (And that's exactly what I want it to do.)

**Ken Anderson** · 10 August 2012, 02:06 AM

I don't use My Documents at all. I have an HTML folder, under which I have projects under various Xara version (for clients, matching their version). Under each of these are the project folders. EVERY version of Web Designer, and before that, Xtreme, has recognized where I grabbed the working file (.xar or .web), and I don't have to navigate a whole file structure to get back there. MX8 has lost that capability, and because of that, it's NOT usable to me in its current form. All Xara has to do is keep the functionality they've had all along ... remember where I opened the file I'm working on, and don't make me chase through Microsoft's way of doing things. All I'm asking for is that the program behave as it always has ... until now. I'm not asking for a new feature ... I'm asking to restore an old one!

Incidentally, I just fired up MX Premium, which I purchased before MX8, and it behaves the way it always has. I see there's an update to that program, and I'm hesitant to install it, lest it now has incorporated the unwanted behavior of MX8. Not all changes are improvements!

Thanks to all who've replied ... I'll be watching updates to see if this thing ever gets shaped up. Sadly, if it doesn't, I won't be trying to get my clients to upgrade. They, and I, will remain locked into XWD7 and XDP7 until this changes.

I guess this may get moved to "feature requests" too, but I wanted to post here so those who've replied earlier can see this note.

**Ken Anderson** · 10 August 2012, 02:22 AM

Hi!

I started a thread on Web Design chat on 7/26 at 11:49 pm regarding a very unwelcome change to the behavior of Web Designer Pro X. On all previous version of the program ... and I've bought 'em all since the product was introduced ... saving or exporting went back to the last folder where I opened or saved a file. Now this thing defaults to My Documents, a terribly cumbersome problem for me.

It's all pretty well documented in this thread, including an entry I just made this evening, August 9, about 9:00 p.m.

Even Web Designer MX8 behaves as the program always has.

Please, please, please restore XDPX to its former behavior ... if there are folks who like it this way, give us some way to choose either "last folder" or "My Documents." I cannot change my entire way of structuring my workflow, folders for various Xara versions, with client folders beneath them, to keep it all straight. Until XDPX allows me to work with my customary file structure, as has been the case with all Xara products and versions since I discovered and adopted this wonderful software, I'll be stuck at current versions, and will not recommend XDPX to my clients, either.

I normally work by helping my clients learn to help themselves, i.e. purchase Xara products and learn to use them. Can't do that until it works in the way it always has ... until now.

Thanks for listening ... I'll be watching for upgrades, and will accept and test each one to see if this has been fixed.

Ken Anderson

**Soquili** · 10 August 2012, 02:38 AM

Hi Ken,

I am unable to duplicate the going to My Documents. Xara Designer Pro X accesses the last folder I accessed to load a file, it also accesses the last folder a file was saved to when saving.

**angelize** · 10 August 2012, 05:30 AM

Hello Ken,

I have merged the two threads into one, so we can discuss this together in one thread.

I am also unable to duplicate this behaviour. The first document I save after opening the program will default to my documents after that it will go to the last folder I saved to.