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

Microsoft

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!

216 Replies

@HotCakeX wrote:

@Kiven 


@Kiven wrote:

Make the download page as an APP and keep downloading when Edge is closed.

It's a easy way to manage download.


This is really great!

so we can start download, close the browser and then possibly see the download progress in the Windows 10 action center and also get a notification when download is done


Action center!

It's great, I just forget it.

@HotCakeX 


@Elliot Kirk wrote:

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!


Back to topic

I often use 1, 2, but 3 is also very useful sometimes.
So I totally agree with 4.
Giving users the opportunity to choose is better than making decisions for them.
Of course, you will have the default options.

@Elliot Kirk 

@ComputerCatThe current Chromium Edge allows you to click a file to open it before it is downloaded. This is faster than the old Edge/IE because the browser is not waiting on the user to choose Run/Open/Save. The old Open/Save both must first download the file before it can be opened.

@Elliot Kirk @josh_bodner A mockup of how I envision Edge working:

clipboard_image_0.png

clipboard_image_1.png

I'm voting for Options 1 AND 2 (something like Option 4, but without 3).

I want to run files without saving them (I know, they have to be downloaded, but get deleted afterwards).
I want to save them in a folder I can choose individually for every download and to rename it the way I like.
I want to cancel a download before it starts (if I clicked the wrong link). So that makes buttons like:

RUN (without saving)
SAVE AS
CANCEL

Maybe there are a few users out there, that often use SAVE (with a given name and directly to the download folder). But if I choose to download something and store it for later usage, I want to choose name and location individually for every download by myself.

@Elliot Kirk 

 

Tbh, just do this and we'll be happy!

 

Annotation 2019-10-31 115641.png

 

Run = Open

there doesn't need to be 2 buttons that do exactly the same thing.

But, show "Run" when the file being downloaded is a .exe, and show "Open" for all other file types.

 

@HotCakeX To save 3 photos into the Pictures folder instead of the normal Downloads folder...

 

With classic Edge: total 12 clicks + additional folder navigation
Click link, click up arrow, click Save As, navigate to Pictures folder, click Save, then wait for download.
Repeat 3x

 

With proposed Move Downloads button: total 5 clicks + additional folder navigation
Click link, Repeat 3x
While downloads are still working or after completed, click Move Downloads, navigate to Pictures folder, click Save

 

For 10 photos,
40 clicks + additional navigation
vs
12 clicks + additional navigation

 

If your thought is now to save everything in Downloads and then move it, Chromium auto-download like Edge Dev has now still cuts the number of clicks in half, because you don't have to pick Save.

 

Edit: number of clicks above does not include folder navigation clicks, since that is variable depending on where you want to save and whether you saved there recently

There is no need to choose folder every time.
you shouldn't count the navigation, that's all wrong.

even if you wanna count navigation clicks, I suggested this to fix that
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Let-us-Choose-Download-Location-For-each-File-Typ...
I didn't count folder navigation in number of clicks.

 


@DinosaurTim wrote:
I didn't count folder navigation in number of clicks.

@DinosaurTim 

Annotation 2019-10-31 190414.png

 

 

It's 40 clicks plus any additional folder navigation. If you read my calculations and add it up yourself, you'll see.

@DinosaurTim 


@DinosaurTim wrote:
It's 40 clicks PLUS any additional folder navigation. If you read my calculations and add it up yourself, you'll see.

Okay,

anyway,

you said "To save 3 photos into the Pictures folder instead of the normal Downloads folder"

 

instead of choosing Photos folder 10 times for 10 photos. first download all 10 photos to the default downloads folder and then move them to the Photos folder.

OR,

Microsoft Edge insider needs to implements this:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Let-us-Choose-Download-Location-For-each-File-Typ...

to solve that issue.

@HotCakeXBut like I said earlier, " file type is not an accurate predictor of contents of the file (family photo and clip-art might both be .jpg files) "

Also, then you would have to keep track of previous folder/file type associations you made. (Did I want pdfs saved in Documents\Reports or under Documents\Manuals or under Downloads?)

 

I agree this could be a nice advanced feature to add for certain users, but I think the idea of moving all recently downloaded files from the downloads bar is a more flexible and simpler solution for what many of us are already doing: downloading stuff and then organizing it.

It puts the user in charge of where everything goes, they can change it every time, and they can put all files in the same place regardless of file type.

Those associations are saved in Edge insider settings so they can be synced.

what you're saying is also nice and can be already done

edge://settings/downloads

turn on "ask where to save the file"
That's not quite the same. That asks every single time where to save every single file. That's a lot more clicks and confirmations before any downloads start. It's unnecessary when downloading stuff for single use like installers, and slow and repetitive when downloading a bunch of things.

My idea is to default to saving in downloads, but provide a user-friendly way of organizing downloads by something other than file type. By moving important stuff right after downloading, and leaving all other junk and one-time use stuff in the downloads folder, you can enable an option to delete recently downloaded files after each session. This keeps your downloads folder clean, and encourages users to organize important stuff if they want to, or lets them leave everything in downloads if they don't want to change anything. This new feature set is something that is not in any major browser right now.
That's sounds good too, I think if this feature gets implemented, the "Run" button won't be needed anymore because Run relies on a temporary directory that gets emptied after using that downloaded file.
I just want to add that Dinosaur Tim's terminology of "Mark as temporary" solves part B of my proposal's issues. Personally, I'm pretty wary of automatic file deleting software. However, this pushes opening a file from two clicks in Classic (One click to begin dialog + one click on the "Open/Run" button) while it's 4 clicks in the new system. (Click to begin downloading + Click to open the options menu + click to mark as temporary + click to open/run). We could get this down to three clicks by calling it "Open as temporary file" or "Run as temporary app" instead. Obviously, when you're downloading something that will be deleted soon after, you'll want to open or run it right away.

As for part A, I think that if one of the files has been moved to a custom location before the user selects "move all", then Edge should NOT override that one file's special location. There are two ways this could be visually indicated. Edge could show relocated files on the left side of the downloads bar, putting a divider bar between them and the rest of the files. This is not ideal; it moves the file from under the mouse to a different part of the screen. A better way would be to show the icon of the file within a folder, and possibly tint the file's tile in the downloads bar a slightly different color.

@Elliot Kirk

As a Chrome user, here are my thoughts.

1. Chrome opens most pdf files in the internal pdf viewer (pdfium?) so they do not appear in my downloads folder. This means I rarely have this problem. When I do experience this problem, it usually occurs with Word and Excel files that I want to open but don't want a copy in my downloads folder.

2. I would like a way to choose the filename and location to save the downloaded file, but only for a subset of downloaded files (the ones I don't intend to delete soon after viewing). Because I only do this for some files, I would prefer to go to the downloads folder and change the name/location using File Explorer as opposed to being asked the name/location for every file I download. 

3. Yes, I want a light-weight downloads process. Chrome is light-weight. You click on download and the file is in your download folder. 

@WolfIcefangYes I forgot to include that in my mockup, but an "Open and Delete" button would work nicely right under the existing Open button on the options menu.

 

Seeing as the classic Edge Open button opened things once and then kept the file in a hard-to-find temporary cache, deleting the file when Edge was closed, I assume that enabling the proposed option to delete recent downloads on close will mimic this old behavior. With that option enabled, clicking the "Open and Delete" button is functionally no different than simply opening the file by clicking on the filename. The file gets deleted when the browser is closed in both cases, except this way the file is in a more intuitively accessible location, in case you want to click it twice or save it for some reason. Since they do the same thing, I expect people will use the "Open and Delete" button less and less, so the extra click to use it will have less and less consequence.

 

As far as representing moved files, I like your color and folder icon ideas. Another option might be a checkmark over the file icon (indicating done moving/organizing). And yes, the Move All button should only affect unmoved files still in the downloads folder.