There is a hack that Windows users can use. It is called Everything Search. Install it and set your drives to be auto indexed and auto identify changes. Any file saved or modified can be found systemwide this way.
Fsearch exists on Linux if you want this for Linux too.
This method works for people who hate Recent Files bad for their privacy.
With the everything toolbar addon to add a search bar in your toolbar if you want seemless experience.
I just have the Everything Search on the Windows key + 0-9 hotdial, since you can launch one of the first 10 programs on the taskbar that way.
I hate this meme. It’s downloads/documents or wherever you saved the document the first time. And you chose that location.
It’s downloads/documents
Lies, it’s always Sharepoint or OneDrive, you have to fight with Office if you want to save it locally. And it’s been like this for the past 10 years.
Come on, this is easy! It was saved wherever you last saved something!
You remember where that was, right? Right?
How could I forget about my desktop?
Default save folder is Documents
ok, but which documents folder, and where actually is it?
Because if you have onedrive installed then that does not sync your documents folder. It syncs its own folder that it puts god knows where. And then does its best to have explorer open its folder instead of your documents folder. Which does not always work. So sometimes you get an app that actually opens “c:/users/username/documents” and it’ll be empty
If you have the option to sync documents folder with onedrive, its the same one.
If you don’t, I’m assuming the autosave with cloud enabled will save it in a different documents folder inside onedrive folder. This onedrive folder is by default in your user folder, but you should have quick access to it in the list of folder on the left of the explorer window, or by double clicking on the onedrive icon in the taskbar.
The only time it can be tricky to locate these files is when the app closes unexpectedly (for whatever reason), and you have to try to locate the .tmp file in the appdata.
Otherwise, the only chance your file is somewhere else is if you edit an existing file or if you save it in another location by mistake. This is easily solved by checking the latest saved files.
It’s not as tricky as you’re trying to make it out to be
The only way I can get to my actual, local, documents folder is to go directly through my home folder.
and the only way to get to that is through c:/users, because microsoft keep doing their best to hide that a home folder exists.
I’m not speculating. this is what happens on the machine I use daily.
click my documents in the sidebar. then install onedrive and press the same button. it takes you somewhere else. where your files aren’t
The local documents folder is always by default in the list of pinned folders, the ones I mentioned in the last reply. On the left side of the explorer.
In alternative, you can go to your users folder and create a shortcut in your desktop, or another location of your choice; create a shortcut for each subfolder of your choice in your desktop, or another location of your choice; or pin them in the list mentioned previously. Customize your machine to your personal preference.
I’m also speaking from personal experience, I work with Excel almost daily. Perhaps try to understand how you have your onedrive configured. Or if you don’t use it, just uninstall it and/or don’t use the autosave with cloud feature
I feel this way about iOS.
And android
Mobile in general. At one point, I tried setting up Syncthing to be able to manage files remotely for vlc, but android wouldn’t let the two programs access the same space with read/write permissions.
Last week, I was trying to convert a video and the program(FFShare) wouldn’t tell me where it was even saving the file to.
I have limited experience of Android. I appreciate this as it gives me a heads up for my work phone.
I think it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I have a Samsung because it’s what my carrier sent me when my other phone died under warranty. I heard those are worse for things like this. At least most of my troubleshooting seemed to hit wall because of that. I intend to get a GrapheneOS compatible phone next.
Microsoft Outlook puts attachments that you open in some insane temporary folder. That’s fine for viewing a file but god forbid you save without changing the full path.
The one that bugs me is that they don’t have a “Home” link by default on the explorer sidebar. When I first install windows I add it, but when I have to help someone else for some reason and have to go to the home directory the easiest way to do it is to go through “This PC”>C:>Users>[Name] then try to find what they are looking for. Why not just open that location at default instead of the nebulous “everything you’ve ever used or interacted with”? Half the time it’s full of garbage or one off files they have no interest in reviewing but are too afraid to delete.
Better yet, why not auto sort web downloads based on file extensions to their relevant home folder? I had that setup on a Linux box for a minute and I legit miss it.
