Standard File Selection Dialog Boxes

Summary

Several commands display standard file selection dialog boxes, in which you can navigate through local and network drives and through FTP sites and Web folders to select files. While each dialog box may vary slightly, following is a list of the possible options.

List of Options

This dialog box contains the following options.

Places List

Provides quick access to predefined locations. You can reorder the icons in the Places list by dragging them to a new position. To add a new icon to Places, drag a folder from the list. Right-click in Places to display a shortcut menu with options for adding, removing, and modifying icons or restoring default icons that have been removed. Changes to Places affect all standard file selection dialog boxes.

History: Displays shortcuts to the files most recently accessed from the dialog box. It is recommended that you periodically remove unwanted shortcuts from the History list. Select History, then select the unwanted shortcuts in the Files list and click Delete. To sort the shortcuts by date, click Views Details, and then click the Modified column in the Files list.
My Documents: Displays the contents of the My Documents folder for the current user profile. The name of this location (“My Documents”) depends on the operating system version.
Favorites: Displays the contents of the Favorites folder for the current user profile. This folder consists of shortcuts to files or folders that you added to Favorites using the Tools Add to Favorites option in the dialog box.
FTP: Displays the FTP sites that are available for browsing in the standard file selection dialog box. To add FTP locations to this list, or to modify an existing FTP location, click Tools Add/Modify FTP Locations in the dialog box.
Desktop: Displays the contents of the desktop.

Look In/Save In

Displays the current folder or drive. Click the arrow to view the hierarchy of the folder path and to navigate up the path tree or to other drives, network connections, FTP locations, or web folders (either Web Folders or My Network Places, depending on the version of the operating system). You can create web folders in File Explorer. Consult your system administrator or File Explorer Help for more information about web folders.

Back

Returns to the previous file location.

Up One Level

Navigates one level up in the current path tree.

Search the Web

Displays the Browse the Web dialog box, from which you can access and store files on the Internet.

Delete

Deletes the selected file or folder.

Create New Folder

Creates a new folder in the current path using a name that you specify.

Views

Controls the appearance of the Files list or Folders list and, for a Files list, specifies whether to show a preview image when a file is selected.

List: Displays a multicolumn list.
Details: Displays a single-column list with file details.
Preview: Displays a bitmap of the selected file. The Preview area is blank if you do not select a file. To save a bitmap with a drawing file, use the Save a Thumbnail Preview Image option on the Open and Save tab in the Options dialog box.

Tools

Provides tools to help with file selection and other actions available in file selection dialog boxes.

Find: Displays the Find dialog box, in which you can search for files using name, location, and date-modified filters.
Locate: Uses the DWG TrueView search path to locate the file specified in File Name. You set the search path on the Files tab of the Options dialog box.
Add/Modify FTP Locations: Displays the Add/Modify FTP Locations dialog box, in which you can specify the FTP sites to make available for browsing. To browse these sites, select FTP from the Places list.
Add Current Folder to Places: Adds an icon for the selected folder to the Places list, providing quick access to that folder from all standard file selection dialog boxes. To remove the icon, right-click the icon and choose Remove.
Add to Favorites: Creates a shortcut to the current Look In location, or to the selected file or folder. The shortcut is placed in the Favorites folder for the current user profile, which you can access by choosing Favorites in the Places list.

Files List

Displays the files and folders in the current path and of the selected file type. Use the Views menu in the dialog box to switch between List view and Details view.

Preview

Displays a bitmap of the selected file when you choose Views Preview in the dialog box. The Preview area is blank if you do not select a file.

File Name

Displays the name of the file you select in the Files list. If you select multiple files, File Name displays each selected file within quotation marks. If you enter a file name in the File Name box, any selection is cleared. You must use quotation marks when entering multiple file names. You can use wild-card characters to filter files displayed in the Files list.

Files of Type

Filters the list of files by file type. When you are saving files, Files of Type specifies the format in which the file is saved.

Select Initial View

Displays the specified model space view when you open the drawing if the drawing contains more than one named view.

Open/Save

Depending on the purpose of the specific file selection dialog box, opens or saves the selected file or enters the path of the selected folder in the previous dialog box.