Several commands display standard file selection dialog boxes, in which you can navigate through the files and folders on a local and network drive. While each dialog box may vary slightly, the following is a list of common options.
List of Options
The following options are displayed.
Task Pane
Provides access to categories that represent locations files might be stored in; devices, shared and predefined places, and media. You can reorder the items under a category by dragging them to a new position. To add a new item to Places, drag a folder from the list. Changes to Places affect all standard file selection dialog boxes.
Devices
Lists the local storage devices attached to your computer.
Shared
Lists the network location paths added to your computer.
Places
Lists a number of predefined, user added, or Smart folders that are dependent on your user profile.
- Documents
-
Displays the contents of the Documents folder for the current user profile.
- Desktop
-
Displays the contents of your desktop.
Search For
Lists the files that you most recently searched for.
Media
Lists folders related to media located on your computer, such as photos or movies.
Back
Returns to the previous file location.
Forward
Returns you to the file location before Back was clicked.
Views
Controls the appearance of the icons for the files and folders in the current place, specifies whether to show a preview image when a file is selected.
- Icon
-
Displays each file or folder as an icon. The icons used are determined by the operating system, or a thumbnail preview of the contents of a file might be used.
- List
-
Displays a list of the files and folders. Folders can be expanded to show the hierarchy of the files or folders they contain.
- Column
-
Displays a multi-column list with each column representing a folder in the hierarchy of the contents on your computer. When a file is selected, a preview and details of the file are displayed in the next available column.
Where
Displays the current folder or drive. Click the dropdown arrow to view the hierarchy of the folder path, and to navigate to a previous folder, drive, or recent place. The REMEMBERFOLDERS system variable controls whether the last used paths in each standard file selection dialog box are stored across sessions.
Search
Allows you to search for a file or folder located on the computer using Spotlight. Search results can be saved as Smart folders under Places in the Task Pane.
Files List
Displays the files and folders in the current place. Use the Views buttons to control navigation behavior, and how files and folders are listed.
File Format
When you are opening or saving files, File Format specifies the format of the files you can select for open or in which the file is saved.
Read Only
WIndicates if the file should be opened as read-only. You cannot save changes to the file using the original file name.
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..
New Folder
Creates a new folder in the current place using a name that you specify.