Administrator approval

[Gale Andrews]

Is there a Bugzilla enhancement request for this?

I don't think so, but I can add it sometime if not.

But first we would have to be clear what we want. Separate preferences for export directory and save directory? Or specify the starting directory internally, and if changed by the user, just write that to audacity.cfg (as happens already for the export path)?

Note that http://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=550 suggests we have three choices for export path: Path of original file/last used/user-specified. The point of "Path of original file" is to make it less onerous to import a file for overwrite, so that it is never necessary to change the export directory.

Of course if we ever had a properly thought out File > Overwrite menu item, bug 550 would close, then the case for a Preference or not would rest on the issue being discussed here.


Gale

[steve]

But first we would have to be clear what we want

I think that the first and most important thing that we need is a more sensible default save/export directory. Personally I would class it as a "bug" that the default is a non-writable location. I don't think that it should be too dificult to make the "out of the box default" the user's "Home directory", which would in itself be a big improvement.

[waxcylinder]

I think that the first and most important thing that we need is a more sensible default save/export directory. Personally I would class it as a "bug" that the default is a non-writable location.

+1

I would call that a bug too.

I don't think that it should be too dificult to make the "out of the box default" the user's "Home directory", which would in itself be a big improvement.

But I will still prefer it to be either the "Music" folder or even the "Documents" folder on Windows. My Audacity Projects do actually live in my Documents folder in a sub-folder called "Audacity Projects" - but with a careful taxonomy of folders below that level.

Peter.

[steve]

But I will still prefer it to be either the "Music" folder or even the "Documents" folder on Windows.

The user may of course choose any writable location that they want, but I would much prefer that navigating begins from a valid writable location than from a forbidden location. How easy / difficult is it on Modern Windows systems to find "Documents" and "Music" if the current location is <root>\Users\<username>?

[cyrano]

But first we would have to be clear what we want

I think that the first and most important thing that we need is a more sensible default save/export directory. Personally I would class it as a "bug" that the default is a non-writable location. I don't think that it should be too dificult to make the "out of the box default" the user's "Home directory", which would in itself be a big improvement.

+1

That would fix the problem AND it is the standard in most software.

[waxcylinder]

How easy / difficult is it on Modern Windows systems to find "Documents" and "Music" if the current location is <root>\Users\<username>?

Dead easy - and even easier if you just click on "File Explorer" icon in the task bar:

File Explorer default view.png (33.13 KiB) Viewed 471 times

[waxcylinder]

Or if you're at the C:\Users\<username> level:

File Explorer user view.png (37.11 KiB) Viewed 472 times

[steve]

Having had a quick look, it looks like it should be fairly straightforward to make the default either the "Documents" directory, or the "Music" directory.
Examples:

• Unix/Mac: ~/Documents
• Windows: "C:\Users\username\Documents"

• Unix/Mac: ~/Music
• Windows: "C:\Users\username\Music"

[waxcylinder]

Well I'd vote for ...\Documents - basically because many Audacity projects are spoken word or sounds and not music

[Gale Andrews]

Having had a quick look, it looks like it should be fairly straightforward to make the default either the "Documents" directory, or the "Music" directory.
Examples:

• Unix/Mac: ~/Documents
• Windows: "C:\Users\username\Documents"

• Unix/Mac: ~/Music
• Windows: "C:\Users\username\Music"

OK so all this bug states is that currently, we don't set the starting save project and export directory. I prefer the user's Documents directory as the starting directory.

Otherwise, we carry on as now - we save the [Export] path to audacity.cfg (it's saved even if not changed by the user, I see) and we do not save the Save Project path to .cfg?

I still think not saving the Save Project path to .cfg is a bug, notwithstanding that Save Project directory changes automatically to the directory a file comes from. If you never import files or reopen projects, Save Project always opens at the default. It is however only a problem on Linux because Mac, like Windows, saves the Save Project directory itself. Given that, I presume on a new audacity.cfg that we can override the Windows Registry/Mac plist setting and set Save Project directory back to the user's Documents folder?


Gale