Forum Discussion
Provide run / open / save / save as options when downloading files - Discussion
Hello everyone,
Thanks so much for all the feedback provided regarding Open/SaveAs. We are now introducing an option for users using Edge version 87.0.629.0 and above to choose, for each download, whether they want to Open, Save As, Save, or Cancel a download. To enable this option, navigate to edge://settings/downloads and enable, "Ask me what to do with each download." Once you download a file after enabling that setting, you will have the option to Open, Save As, Save, or Cancel it. If you choose to open it directly, it will be downloaded to a temporary folder.
Additionally, we have exposed an option to directly delete downloaded files from your computer, in the browser so that you can easily clean up after downloading your files without leaving the browser.
To learn more about these features, please check out our post.
DinosaurTim just thinking as a fellow downloads user right now, not a Microsoft employee, but your view of downloads as a temporary cache is really interesting to me. If there were a checkbox either in our "clear browsing data every time you close the browser" page or the downloads section to empty the Downloads folder every time you close the browser, that would definitely fix the issue of files laying around on my machine. We also wouldn't need the open/run button at all, since it would still take the same number of clicks to get a file open: instead of clicking the link, then "Open" before the download starts like we currently do in Edge Legacy, it would be clicking the link, then clicking its entry on the Downloads bar after it's finished downloading to open it. I guess the only difference is maybe time, since I have to notice when it's done instead of just waiting and having it pop up as soon as it's finished.
josh_bodnerSorry mate but I do not like this idea. Some "low priority" files are opened on the fly, others are saved in the downloads folder. Clearing the browsing data will also delete more important files. Using Temporary directory is the best solution. Some old things just don't need much of a changing. Those design choices are really good. Even some browsers that are chrome based offer similar functionality, for example Vivaldi. This is rare and very useful feature for power users.