Forum Discussion
Provide run / open / save / save as options when downloading files - Discussion
Hello everyone and thanks for your significant interest in our feedback item of “Provide run / open / save as options when downloading files”. This has been a very interesting problem to think through. The downloads team would love your thoughts on whether we have identified the main customer needs such a feature would need to address.
We believe that there are three main things being asked for:
- You would like a way to open a file without having to keep it on your computer so that your downloads folder remains “clean” (eg. You want to view your bank statement, but want it deleted after you are finished looking at it)
- You would like a way to choose the filename and location to save the downloaded file so that you can better organize your downloads (eg. You download a family photo IMG_1502.jpg and want to rename it to Reunion2019.jpg and save it in your Photos folder)
- You still want a light-weight downloads process that does not require many clicks (eg. User wants to download multiple photos in succession and move them in bulk afterwards without having to click “Save” each time). This is what our downloads flow currently addresses; one click to download.
- You would like a way to easily switch between (1), (2), and (3) for different files you are downloading; one size does not fit all (eg. For bank statements, you want to just open it, and have it deleted afterwards. But for family photos, you want to be able to rename and save to a specific location).
Do you think we are thinking in the right direction? We are still exploring possible solutions to this problem and any additional feedback is most welcome!
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.
216 Replies
For my perspective there is no further need for discussion. Please just implement. Thanks
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that in the end you don't have to choose one or the other. Just enable us to choose. Give us options.
From a design perspective, I would say keep it simple. Have an Open and a Save button.
If people want more options, allow them to enable them in the settings.
Really need these options, (and corrected the bug that once out of 2, when I choose the desktop as a destination, the file does not appear, forced to actualize or F5)
And to have a small download window (like IE) to be able to close the browser and still have a visual on the download (without it being an entire browser window)
Last night / this morning, I discovered something annoying about Edge Insider's download manager. Most people probably don't know this, but you can drag and drop files from the download bar directly into file explorer and other programs! I had maybe around 30 PDF files that I needed to download and organize, so I opened up file explorer, turned off "choose destination for every file" in Edge, and began downloading about 4 files at a time, navigating to where I wanted to put them in File Explorer, and dropping them into place. This was great for moving a ton of files to many different destinations... or so I thought.
It turns out that dragging and dropping a file from Edge's download bar doesn't work like drag and drop within File Explorer. Edge duplicates the file instead of moving it. This means, by the time I was done, I had two copies of every file. My default download location is my desktop, but I didn't know what was happening because I had Edge and File Explorer covering it up. Cut to this morning, and I discover that I have 30 so files nicely tucked away in their folders, and also randomly strewn across my desktop.I can understand why it was designed like this: if you're dragging a downloaded file into an existing tab, to say, upload it to social media, you would want the file to also remain at its source. If you're dragging and dropping a file into an application like Photoshop the file shouldn't move from its original location. However, Windows 10's default drag and drop behavior already accounts for this. When dragging into a folder, Windows 10 transfers the file instead of creating a copy. When dragging a file into an application, Windows 10 keeps the original file in its source location. Edge's Download bar should have the same behavior, if at all possible.
WolfIcefangCool discovery. Maybe the chromium people didn't want to bother tracking a moved file so it could be opened from the browser, or maybe they don't care about leaving duplicate files littered around a PC. Either way, this should be changed to a move functionality like you said.
This could be an opportunity to add a checkbox-style select button for each download, so multiple downloads can be moved via drag-and-drop.
For me it's always the right direction
Above all to be able to "open" a file, attachment in an email, etc .... without having to save it on the PCAnd if it would be possible to have a smaller download window (like Internet Explorer for example) with download information, file name, speed, remaining time, etc ....
It would allow to close Edge but still have this little download window in visual (in place of the current web page)In fact, I find the IE system very successful
But this browser has had several years of "development"
Elliot Kirk Wanted to mention that I am not using the native PDF viewer and am using an external program and only have the option to download a PDF. Would be great if it just opened in the default PDF program and then you could save the PDF if needed from the program.
Elliot Kirk I would just like the behaviour fixed when saving PDF that are opened in EdgeDev. When I open an online PDF and click the save button it shows up in the Downloads Bar. This is excellent because then I can drag and drop it back into the browser to upload to online storage like OneDrive. However, when I open and save a PDF file that I've already downloaded (I do this to rename the file, and remain in Edge) it no longer shows up on the Downloads Bar, and I need to switch windows to drag and drop to the online storage site, or switch to the online storage site and click add file and then select from the popup dialog. I think this is the behaviour of the new PDF reader that's been implemented. Older versions of Edge had the behaviour where all PDFs saved, local or online, would show up in the Downloads Bar.
There is already an option to turn the "Save As" dialog on in the current Edge.
However I would really like to have an "Open" option so the file is places somewhere in the Temp Folder and will get deleted automatically at some point in the future.
- Like good old IE and Edge HTML did!
- Excellent! Function similar to the Edge HTML browser.
A save as option would be most useful to me to put files where I want them to go first time.
Run and Open are sometimes needed
Elliot Kirk yes absolutely you are thinking in right direction..please provide these feature as fast as possible.
