Provide run / open / save / save as options when downloading files - Discussion

[Elliot Kirk]

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:

1. 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)
2. 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)
3. 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.
4. 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!

[#2]

@HotCakeX 

It would just be necessary that the window "Feedback", "Download", etc ... be considered as an Edge window "apart" (as if a new Edge window was open) and there will be no problem

This is the case with IE, it should not be complicated to set up

[#3]

True, i hope they invest the time to do that, using Chromium should create more opportunities, not restrictions

[#4]

@Elliot Kirk 

Having an option to open, save and run downloads is simple and very useful. Because having programs download right away is not good, for example some websites automatically try to download files. But if there is an option for what to do with the download, the user can then stop it. And if many files are downloaded by the user, and the user wants to save them in different places. It is not ideal to go to setting and change the save location. By having those options of open, save and run the user doesn't even have to save the item to their computer. 

[#5]

@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.  

[#6]

I think an open / run /save would be good for documents and applications. I tend to save a lot application installers to a different part of my hard drive and would love to have an option in the new edge to do so. @Elliot Kirk 

[#7]

This would be so useful. 

[#8]

@RichLusk 

Me too. I like to have option to run app without downloading it, and only if I confirm by run button, not automatically. Downloading automatically files can infect your computer.

I like that in classic Edge download bar is related to page offering file to download.

[#9]

For me, the main use of this dialogue is to tell how large the file I'm downloading is going to be. Very important especially on capped connections.

[#10]

Is there no way to see, when highlighting a link with the mouse, whether or not it will prompt a download?
If there is, one fairly easy solution (easy to conceptualise at least) is to right click on such a link and have a menu: 'open', 'save', or 'save and open'.

In general, I think that pages downloaded from the same webpage should be treated the same. Perhaps a default could be a prompt as in the old Edge and, if the page isn't explicitly opened, the rest of the downloads are also downloaded but not opened (i.e. treated the same as the first download from that webpage).

I think the user should also have the option to change the default, whether "open", "save", "both" or "treat as was the first download from that webpage"

[#11]

@Elliot Kirk 

Elliot, sounds like 4 comes the closest to covering things or summing it up nicely.  Certain instances will beget different actions.  Point is, YES, sometimes want to run or open something without saving.  And, if saving, always, want choice between DLs going to the DL folder or being directed elsewhere.  These (traditional) options, really, should (continue to) exist.

Cheers,
Drew

[#12]

@Elliot Kirk 

Let us Choose Download Location For each File Type separately in Edge browser

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/let-us-choose-download-location-for-each-file-typ...

[#13]

@Elliot Kirk It is important for us that this run / open / save / save as implementation works together with the "Always open PDF files externally" group policy.

We have 800+ employees who are required to open PDF files from our internal document management solution in Adobe Reader, as the build-in PDF viewer in Edge does not display the documents correctly (As the documents have JavaScript in them)

But the way the "Always open PDF files externally" group policy works today is not very user friendly, as they have to first download the PDF to the Download folder and then open it.

We wish Edge could open PDF files using Adobe Reader just like Internet Explorer could, where when you click a PDF it just automatically opens the file from a temp folder, where the user doesn't see that the file is downloaded and doesn't have to cleanup their download folder.

[#14]

@MissyQ Any progress with this feature? What is not yet understandable so we could discuss further?

[#15]

@KristersA 

Discuss further... you're kidding, to be sure.  This issue is so clear-cut, an obvious no-brainer; doesn't need heaps of talk that hasn't, already, been well stated.  Nobody wants to work or function without these standard, expected & required options for downloading (or not).

Cheers,
Drew

[#16]

Yeah I also think it's time after all this month to wrap this topic up and post a conclusion of the feedbacks

[#17]

@Elliot Kirk I think you guys nailed identifying the main customer needs. Here's another mockup showing a way it could be done, I think this meets all the needs you presented along with some additional features discussed by others above.

Summary

To minimize clicks like in the current flow (#3), by default files are saved to the Download folder. It preserves the option "Ask where to save each file before downloading", which some users want. If users want to change an individual download's filename or location (#2), they click "Move". If users want a particular file saved in a temporary fashion (#1), they can enable the "Open once" button option and use that button (it's disabled by default to avoid users like this). And since all of these are readily accessible on a file-by-file basis, it also meets (#4). 

More useful downloads interface, mockup summary 1

Additional Explanation of Buttons and Options

There isn't space to have all these extra buttons on every download. Therefore, they only appear on one file at a time -- either the most recent download, or if a user has already clicked one of the buttons on the most recent file then it shows the buttons on the second-most-recent file, and so on. For files which are collapsed and showing just the filename and filesize/progress bar, the extra functions can all still be accessed under the "..." menu.

The wording could dynamically change by having the "Move" button be "Save As" while a download is still ongoing, and by having the "Open once" button be "Run once" if a file happens to be an executable (.exe, .msi, etc.). I'd also keep the current behavior where clicking anywhere in the file's download section causes it to open (or to queue up to open if the download hasn't finished yet), but doesn't cause the file to be automatically recycled.

The "Open once" button option is disabled by default to help prevent issues where users "Open" a file to make edits to it, and then save and close the file without ever ... This is also the reasoning behind the option "Recycle all files in Downloads when closing browser", rather than "Delete all files in Downloads in when closing browser"; this option was suggested by @josh_bodner, though the recycling behavior is my idea. 

The "Move All" button proposed by @WolfIcefang and @DinosaurTim lets people quickly click a bunch of pictures to download (for example), then click "Move All" to put all items in the downloads bar into a particular folder. 

The Ctrl+Click and Ctrl+Shift+Click keyboard shortcut option is adapted from @Wessso's suggestion above. 

Per @HotCakeX's suggestion above, an option exists to manage choosing how particular filetype downloads are automatically handled like in Firefox. For each type of file, a user can choose to have it automatically "Preview", "Always Ask", "Save", or "Open With...". Chrome can apparently already do this for PDF files, but no other filetypes that I can find. 

Per @LuKePicci's suggestion, there's a dropdown menu by the "Move" button which is populated with the most recent folder locations. 

Per @CyanCoding's suggestion here from Apr 2019, the right-click menu gets a "Delete" button and the Cancel becomes "Cancel / Restart" like other browsers which let you attempt to restart a canceled download (I know at least Vivaldi does, I assume other browsers do as well). A "Pause"/"Resume" function would be cool too, but I'm not sure how to put that in the interface elegantly. 

Miscellaneous Comments

@DinosaurTim argues above that

I think this "Open" button actually needs to die. The reason? Storage Sense. Windows 10's Storage Sense can automatically clean up the Downloads folder of old things we only needed temporarily (like program installers or things to print). The "Open" button of IE caused unneeded confusion, because people wanted to save AND open, and making them choose just confused them.

---

I disagree because the new Edge is cross-platform. Just because a user happens to be on MacOS or Linux doesn't mean they should lose the ability to open files in a temporary fashion. You also mention the "Open" button causing unneeded confusion; I agree this is bad, and is another reason my mockup uses an "Open once" button which is disabled by default for users who don't understand the difference. 

@RussTurrentine says above that

...When clicking on a html or htm file that someone has in a documents list on their website, the file just needs to open in the browser in another tab. Why would I want to download that? I just want to view it or print it..

---

I disagree because that behavior you're describing is defined by MIME types on a website, see this post for more information. Edge could "guess" what the right behavior is, but that breaks web standards which I think causes more trouble than it's worth. For a vivid example of how the website not the browser controls what happens to files, check out these two links. Both are just hyperlinks to a PDF file, but the websites they're hosted on are configured with different behavior:

• Link to PDF configured to automatically open in browser (and not save to computer)
• Link to PDF configured to download like any other file

[#18]

I like this. It addresses a bunch of issues I don't care about, so MAYBE it's a more complex solution than needed (or maybe that's just because I don't personally care about all of these facets), but there is nothing in it I disagree with. I think this hits every identified need and even address the core concerns of people who don't really want to restore the Open / Run capability.

I hadn't thought about it before, but I do like the clarity of "Open once". I would suggest maintaining the browser intelligence on using the term "Open" for documents and "Run" for executables, but I don't feel strongly on that.

[#19]

That's good, do it as is and go on with new issues.

[#20]

The best solutions are always the simplest ones.

add the Same download options that Edge legacy had to the new Edge.

[#21]

Yeah.. At this moment when they are planning to replace original edge - at least the things which was in old would be good enough.