Default Folder X
rebuilds the macOS Open and Save dialogs around your folders
Paid upgrades
St. Clair charges for major releases instead of shipping them free, but states plainly that an upgrade is "a one-time purchase, NOT a subscription" and entitles you to free updates until the next major release, typically five to seven years away. To hook into system dialogs it needs Accessibility and Automation permissions, which macOS will ask you to grant by hand. It also occasionally needs a point release to catch up with a new macOS version, so expect a short wait after each September. The site does not say how many Macs one single-user licence covers.
This is a small idea that compounds. macOS gives you one Save dialog with a sidebar Apple chose; Default Folder X gives you the folders you personally use, a list of the last places you saved anything, and a one-key jump to whatever folder is open in Finder behind the dialog. If your day involves exporting, attaching and filing documents, you stop navigating and start picking.
The other half of it is per-app defaults. Screenshots always land in one folder, invoices in another, and the dialog for each app opens where that app's files actually live. You can also rename or delete a file, or set a Finder tag, without abandoning the save you were in the middle of.
The licence is one of the more honest ones on this site. You pay $39.95, you get free updates until the next major version, and major versions come every five to seven years at $9.95 to $19.95 depending on how old your licence is. Over a decade that is under $60.
It is worth being clear about who this is not for: if you save files into two folders and never think about it, there is nothing here to fix. The app earns its money on volume and variety of destinations.
What it looks like
What it does
- Recent and favourite folders attached to every Open and Save dialog
- Jumps a dialog to any folder already open in Finder
- Keyboard shortcuts for frequently used destinations
- Rename, delete and tag files from inside a dialog
- Per-application default folders
Also bought outright in files
The facts
- Price
- $39.95
- What you get
- One payment, and the developer charges for major versions on a stated cadence.
- Details
- $39.95 for a single-user licence, or $34.95 each when buying two or more. Free 30-day trial. Major upgrades are date-based and mild: free if you bought on or after 1 March 2023, $9.95 if you bought between 1 September 2022 and that date, and $19.95 for anything older.
- Free trial
- Yes
- On Setapp
- No
- Minimum macOS
- not stated
- Developer
- St. Clair Software
- Price checked
- 2026-09-22
Check it yourself - Price band
- $30 to $60