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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

The worst thing of the current download behavior (and one of the biggest reason why I hate Chrome) is the fact that you can't choose what need to happen when you click on a link to a file.

The browser always download the files in the same folder, or you need to always tell to the browser where to save the files.

 

But some times I'm ok if the file is downloaded in the Download folder, most of the time I need to change the download location, many other times I don't need to keep a copy of the file locally (for some installer for example, or some documents) and find really annoying to have to manually goto the Download folder and remove those files by hand.

So what I really really really need is a way to temporarily easily override the default behavior and switch between the option to save, save as or run/open the file that I have to download (or whatever option will be available.

@Elliot Kirk Provide us at least current Spartan Edge UI / Old good IE UI for saving/saving as files or just opening them without actual saving.

@i-am-kent, to your follow-up question on balancing speed (1-click) with power-flexibility that requires multiple clicks, for my part, I'd be fine if left click did a jump to  a "default" behavior that could be set in settings (I'd set to pop-up a save dialog to prompt me where to save, but this would allow others to have it save immediately with a single click), and right-click provided an menu with the full list of options. 

 

To make this as easy as possible for users to optimize, I'd suggest that initially when a user clicks on a file link, it provides a pop-up window showing the options:

  • Save to default download location
  • Save as... to specify save location
  • Open/Run

And then let user select one as a default, where all remain available via right-click. 

@DinosaurTim, for this record, I strongly disagree with eliminating the "Open" or "Run" options we've had in IE and classic Edge. However, to your point that it causes confusion, I do think your naming suggestions of something like "Run once" or "Open and delete" could help. I have no objection to that. I'd think for clarity with other terminology, it would probably be "Run/Open without saving." 

 

But I really want to emphasize that lacking this ability is the biggest negative to me with the new Chromium Edge browser and the chief reason I go to another browser (classic Edge, in my case) so please, MS, don't let DinosaurTim's feedback discourage adding this.

@HotCakeX, I too would be happy if it worked as shown in your picture from Classic Edge. That's already just about perfect for me.

 

I do appreciate that some users would really benefit from the click-savings of the Chromium Edge for users who don't want that. Another option could be to add a checkbox "do this for all file downloads in this window" (or "...in this session").

 

But if I had to choose between saving the click or getting the flexibility, I would MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE prefer the flexible way it works in classic Edge over the new Chromium method, and specifically the Run/Open option being the most important distinction.

@RichLusk @Elliot Kirk I actually prefer the way that Classic Edge provides a banner across the bottom of the screen with buttons to choose which options are appropriate for you.

 

I have always disliked the way that Chromium browsers manage downloads because I like being able to decide what I want to do before the download starts, rather than it automatically downloading and then having to quickly click the ... OPTIONS button to decide if the file should open immediately.

 

Downloads are confusing after Classic EdgeDownloads are confusing after Classic Edge

(I am typing this from a Mac and so the Skype Windows Download isn't a sensible comparison, but this is purely for illustration!)

 

I think it would be sensible to make choices clear, but allow users the choice.  So much effort is going into the design of Chromium Edge I am sure whatever happens will be helpful.

@Elliot Kirk 

 

Open / Run is a must for me. No matter what.

Second, everything you said about bulk downloads is not something I really seek in a browser.

I think it could be useful to let the user choose between:

- open/run: as in current edge

- save: to downloads

- save to recent location:  dropdown with MRU five download locations alternatives

- save as... : custom location and filename

 

Think to my daily workflow: every day I attend lessons of different courses and I need to download updated slides for each one, I'm used to put slides for each course in different folders, and (currently) every time I have to go with "save as..." selecting the right folder going back from the last one which was of a different course.

The MRU locations is what really speeds up downloading multiple files in my use case. Bulk download to the same folder is better addressed by proper download managers.

@Colin -  My main focus is on reducing the number of clicks needed to accomplish things and streamlining workflow. Old IE/Edge always asked what to do with stuff before downloading, waiting for me to choose, and not starting the download until I do.

 

It's not that I hate the Open button; I hate the pre-download prompt with the Open button. The only reason that prompt existed was to choose between Save, Save As, and Open. Considering that Save and Open both download a file first, I think they are technically redundant. If you disagree, I'd honestly like to know what unique purpose the Open button serves for you? If it is just temporary file deletion, I think that can be better handled by downloading first, then having an "Open (and Delete)" button.

 

Regarding the pre-download Save As... button, that can be also replaced with a post-download Move Downloads... button on the download bar, which streamlines organization of multiple downloads at once.

@Elliot Kirk 

Personally, I like the banner at the bottom of IE/Classic Edge, but I love some of the other ideas.  One thing that would help is always opening a PDF file.  Sometimes it opens in another tab, but many times you get the prompt for download.  I don't necessarily want the website to determine what happens.  I want the PDF to open in a temporary location that will be cleared when I close the browser.  If I want or need to save/print the PDF, the viewer buttons are sufficient for that.

 

For exe or msi files, I would probably want a prompt because 90% of the time I want to run them on the computer I'm using, but 10% of the time I'm downloading them to save for later or run on another computer.  Otherwise, the right-click menu could be made better to handle files.  If I'm running it, delete the temporary file when the browser is closed.

 

Office files I would expect to just open in the program.  If you close it, Office will prompt to save or close without saving.

 

Like one person suggested, maybe a setup page to control what happens to the majority of file types.  Some people clicking on a picture might just want to view the picture in a modal, close and move on.  The modal could have options for save/print, etc.  As we see with the suggestions, each person is going to want their own flavor of something.

 

Maybe a good solution would be make better use of the right-click menu.  You could either turn on the IE banner in setting or use right-click with more/better options.  I know lots of options takes more coding time, but most people are going to want more options than fewer.

@DinosaurTim, from the UI in classic Edge, it's true that you had to select what to do (but only if you selected "Ask me what to do with each download," if that's not on, it just downloads directly to the Downloads directory)

 

clipboard_image_0.png

 

but the actual download operation still began in the background immediately, before you made a selection. You can test this by selecting a large file that will take several seconds or longer to download. Click the link, but don't answer the question of what do do with it for a few minutes. Then answer and you'll notice the file is already ready for you. Your response to the question just determines where it copies the file from appdata. It does not hold up the download.

@Elliot Kirk 

One missing use case in regards to "run / open / save / save as" is to open/run an excel sheet provided by my bank which I just want to open without saving. Then I copy/paste the content to a different excel sheet, in which I defined several analysis functions processing the copy/paste content.

 

In the classical edge or different browsers this is possible.

 

2nd use case for me is to define path and/or filename for documents to be downloaded from the web.

 

Regards

Karsten-S

@DinosaurTim 


@DinosaurTim wrote:

@Colin -  My main focus is on reducing the number of clicks needed to accomplish things and streamlining workflow. Old IE/Edge always asked what to do with stuff before downloading, waiting for me to choose, and not starting the download until I do.

 

It's not that I hate the Open button; I hate the pre-download prompt with the Open button. The only reason that prompt existed was to choose between Save, Save As, and Open. Considering that Save and Open both download a file first, I think they are technically redundant. If you disagree, I'd honestly like to know what unique purpose the Open button serves for you? If it is just temporary file deletion, I think that can be better handled by downloading first, then having an "Open (and Delete)" button.

 

Regarding the pre-download Save As... button, that can be also replaced with a post-download Move Downloads... button on the download bar, which streamlines organization of multiple downloads at once.


Save and Open are NOT REDUNDANT. Save stores a file someplace. Run/open is for a single use, don't want to think about where to put the file and don't want to ever think about deleting it -- just open it and be done with it. Technically, of course both actually save the file someplace, so I understand what you mean when you say redundant, but from a UX perspective, they're as opposite as they are on the file menu in Word or Excel.

 

"Run/Open" is a HUGE TIME SAVINGS. Granted, the "Open" option that appears at the bottom of Chromium Edge helps compared with having to navigate to the saved file and open it, but it's still much slower. 

 

A few examples:

 

  1. Voice messages in email -- I just want to play the attachment. I don't want to save it. I don't even want to look at the browser. Just play it. This is Open.
  2. Software updates -- Just want to run the update. I don't want the file after it runs. I don't want to have to go somewhere to clean it up. These can be large files, hundreds of MB, so forgetting to delete is a space risk. This is Run.
  3. Excel, Word, PDF documents that I may want to save, but I won't know until I've read it, so I want to open in the proper application, then I'll use that app's full File Dialog to save if I want to keep it, maybe after making some minor edits.

To do any of those without a Run/Open option, I would need to: Save it. Open it from the browser bar (an admitted improvement over the old much worse way of needing to navigate to the file), make a mental or physical note that I'll need to delete the file which I can't delete now, because the file is open. That last step is huge -- it absolutely destroys my flow. As soon as I have to pause to think about file management, my workflow and the UX is destroyed.

 

 

 


@Colin - wrote:

@DinosaurTim, from the UI in classic Edge, it's true that you had to select what to do (but only if you selected "Ask me what to do with each download," if that's not on, it just downloads directly to the Downloads directory)

 

clipboard_image_0.png

 

but the actual download operation still began in the background immediately, before you made a selection. You can test this by selecting a large file that will take several seconds or longer to download. Click the link, but don't answer the question of what do do with it for a few minutes. Then answer and you'll notice the file is already ready for you. Your response to the question just determines where it copies the file from appdata. It does not hold up the download.


@Colin -Wow you are right, and I totally did not know that. I guess they already implemented what I have been wanting all along. Sneaky Ninjacats. Well, seeing as chromium Edge does not work like this right now, I would be totally cool if they just re-implement exactly how that pre-downloading plus Run/Open/Save banner works in classic Edge.

 

I still think a way to organize multiple downloads to a different folder could be a neat addition, but this solves all the primary concerns for me.

 

Regarding your other post about Open being for avoiding having to choose where to save stuff, isn't Downloads the place where all downloads go when they aren't organized? Plus, after saving with the Save button, you can still open it with one click from the downloads bar or banner. You don't need to open file explorer.

 

Regardless, @Elliot Kirk  @i-am-kent I rescind all my earlier objections to a Run/Open/Save banner assuming you make chromium Edge start downloading things to appdata before choosing an option exactly like classic Edge did and include the option to bypass the banner as in classic Edge.

@DinosaurTim wrote, "Regarding your other post about Open being for avoiding having to choose where to save stuff, isn't Downloads the place where all downloads go when they aren't organized? Plus, after saving with the Save button, you can still open it with one click from the downloads bar or banner. You don't need to open file explorer."

 

Thanks to that addition (the new Open button following download), I agree that part is no longer much of an issue, but that was only half of what the Open/Run option avoids. The other half is deleting the file after you're done. It's not that it's hugely time consuming to delete a file, but it can take several seconds to find and delete it. More serious is that it's a whole separate thought process that is unrelated to the work being done. At least for me, it's really destructive to my workflow processes. I can't delete the file when I download it (because it's Open and therefore not deletable until I close it), which means I have to make some kind of note to or remember to go back and find and delete it later. I know that's not a big deal to everyone, but when I'm cranking through work and trying to get through dozens of tasks in a short time, this may prevent me from getting through some of the tasks I otherwise would have completed. 

@RussTurrentine 

One more thing to think about, 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.  Example would be that a company sends an email to a customer and places that in the document list for that customer as an html file.  I as the agent of the company have access to view what was delivered to the customer.  I don't want to save that locally.  I just want it to open and view.

I would like it to work exactly as it does in current Edge. If I'm going to download something I think I will need in the future, I will save it and leave it in my downloads folder. If it is something I think I will only need once, which is the overwhelming majority of what I download, I will just open/run the file and not have to spend time navigating to my downloads folder to delete it.

@Elliot Kirk 

1. open Doc or PDF on FTP connection is needed. On FTP Pages Open an PDF Document directly is missing. actual save open folder and then open it by double click (funny, it will opened in the same Edge it was clicked before!)

2. Save File to Folder is very needed, it save a lot of time

 

I would like to see a menu that provide also "Save as" and "Open"

 

 

Just implement the current Edge behaviour. The direct download to the default location is a disaster if you are doing a lot of downloads, while the popup method allows me to organise the downloads before the download folder becomes a total mess.

One example: I am frequently downloading Visual C++ runtimes, which always have the same file name regardless of their version. With the crappy Chrome download model, I cannot do the downloads in parallel, because they all target the Downloads folder and get renamed to vcredist (1), vcredist (2), etc. which is totally useless.

@WolfIcefang 

You seem to have a really nice idea there. It preserves the speed of the current system while allowing the run/save as functionality with minimal user interaction.

I hadn't noticed the functionality was missing but this is definitely an improvement.