Version 5.3 of Default Folder X didn’t quite get it right with respect to some changes in the Mojave Finder: Its Finder-click feature omitted windows that contained multiple tabs. This release fixes that – if you use tabbed Finder windows in Mojave, Default Folder X will now list the windows as it should in its Finder window menu and will recognize them when you click on them.

Default Folder X 5.3.1 also resolves a couple of crashes (on all versions of macOS) and makes Default Folder X’s exclusion list apply to files that you’ve recently opened as well as excluding Default Folder X from that app’s Open and Save dialogs.

You can grab the new version on the Default Folder X Release page.

Default Folder X 5.3 is now officially out!

The big deal is, of course, full support for Mojave. That includes Dark Mode, Mojave’s new privacy controls, and the latest changes to the standard Open and Save dialogs. Default Folder X 5.3 should just work, though you will be prompted by Mojave to give it permission to control the Finder — that access is necessary to make Default Folder X’s ‘Finder-click’ feature work.

In addition, I’m excited to have found a way to improve Default Folder X’s tracking of recently-used files. In previous versions, Default Folder X relied largely on the ‘recent items’ tracking that’s built into macOS. That method had some significant limitations, mainly that it didn’t “see” files that were opened in apps that lack an ‘Open Recent’ menu item, like Safari and Firefox. Given how much stuff we upload to websites and open in web apps (like gmail) these days, that was a pretty big shortcoming. With Default Folder X 5.3, you’ll now find those files included in your Recent Files menu as they should be.

And on the how-many-times-has-this-been-requested front, you can now add separators to Default Folder X’s Favorites menu. That helps keep things visually organized so you can quickly get to the Favorite folder you’re after. To add a separator, open your Default Folder X preferences, click on the Folders tab, select Favorites, then click the ‘+’ button at the bottom. There’s now an option to create a separator. Once you’ve added one, just drag it up and down in the list to place it where you want.

There are also user interface improvements for the drawer that Default Folder X attaches to Finder windows, compatibility with iBooks and Newtek Lightwave, and a number of bug fixes and little tweaks.

There’s a list of changes along with download links on the Default Folder X Release page – go get your copy now!

Well, I had hopes that the file dialog implementation in Mojave wouldn’t change and you could just keep running Default Folder X 5.2.5 until I finished support for Dark Mode, but Apple had other plans.

Yesterday’s beta release of Mojave changed the file dialogs ever so slightly – just enough for Default Folder X 5.2.5 to say “that looks sorta like a file dialog, but not exactly” and refuse to put up its controls around Open and Save dialogs. So if you’re running the latest Mojave build, you’ll need to visit the Default Folder X beta testing page and download the latest beta build of Default Folder X.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but you know how it is – “moving target” and all that.

For those of you who’ve been writing in – sometimes desperately – to ask for Default Folder X in the new Mojave beta, here you go. Version 5.2.5 enhances the Open and Save dialogs in Mojave beta 1, though I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer for Dark Mode support.

There are also some new, user-suggested features that are available in all supported versions of macOS:

1. Default Folder X’s hierarchical menus can now sort the contents of sub-folders by date, with the most recently accessed files and folders at the top. Until I tried this, I didn’t really think it’d be all that useful, but now I can’t turn it off! It gets me to the files and folders I want even faster. Pro tip: you can make sub-menus sort in the opposite order (name instead of date, or vice versa) by holding down the Control key while clicking to bring up one of Default Folder X’s menus.

2. You can create default folders that are only used when you choose them from the bottom of the Favorites menu. This essentially gives you an application-specific favorite folder that’s always invoked with the Command-U keyboard shortcut in Open and Save dialogs.

And finally, there are a number of bug fixes that address crashes and user interface issues. A complete list of changes, along with download links for various localized versions (English, Japanese, French, German and Danish) are available on the Default Folder X Release Page. Or if you’re running an older version of Default Folder X already, just choose “Check for Updates” from its menu in your menubar.