How to make Mac remember the folder I was in 2 seconds ago?

[SDP123]

Hello, I have OS X Yosemite 10.10.3.
I'll open a file from a location. For example, an Excel file.
Then I'd like to open another Excel file (using File -- Open) from the same folder location, but every time, I have to navigate all the way back to the same folder I was in 2 seconds ago. Can I ask Mac to somehow remember where I was? I think I waste close to an hour each day clicking and clicking, to navigate all the way back to where I was 2 seconds ago.

 

[chscag]

Your Excel documents should all default to your "Documents" folder. If you have documents stored in folders that are different - for example: sub-folders, then you will have to navigate to that folder when opening another document. Mac Office does remember the location of individual documents, however.

And.... do not double post as that just causes confusion with two threads going with the same subject in different forums. Your duplicate thread has been removed.

 

[SDP123]

Sorry about the double-post.
And thank you for confirming what I hoped would be unimaginable. Mac would rather deliberately make it a complete pain in the **** to use well-established non-Mac programs, than just do the logical.
I can't think of any professionals, while at their place of employment, who store their documents in the "Documents" folder (other than their personal photographs or music). Professionals store documents on backed-up networks.
Now that I think about it, I don't even know any professionals using Mac Office.

 

[chscag]

Now that I think about it, I don't even know any professionals using Mac Office.

I guess we have a different opinion of what is a "professional" then because I know many that use Mac Office and Windows Office. Since Office is the de-facto standard in the real world, other programs are usually not acceptable or compatible. It's OK to store documents where ever you wish including a network drive, however, it may not be as convenient as you would like to retrieve those documents on demand. And by the way, Windows Office works exactly the same way..

 

[MacInWin]

Well, if that location is the same, or at least the first few nodes of the path are the same, you could put that location on the sidebar and only have to click once to be near. And as a former professional using a Mac, it's nice to get to know you and to be the first of a kind. (Oh, and BTW, I don't and didn't store documents on a network. I did back it up to a network, but I always wanted to be able to work on my documents even when a network wasn't available, so I kept the really important stuff on my local drive, professionally speaking, of course.)

 

[vansmith]

Now that I think about it, I don't even know any professionals using Mac Office.

I can assure you that any of them that need an Office suite most certainly do. You can't survive in the corporate/academic world without using Office.

 

[bobtomay]

It's definitely not the same in Windows and OS X. Whether that is due to Microsoft not implementing the feature in OS X or due to some inherent difference between Windows Explorer and Finder, I don't know.

In Windows, after you open one of the Office apps and then save or open a file from a particular sub-folder, the next time you want to save or open a file from within the app, the default folder location is the last location you used. In OS X, that location defaults back to the Documents folder every time rather than the last location you used.

I use Excel all day every day, I'd be po'd if I was having to re-navigate the 4 folders deep I need everytime I wanted to save or open a spreadsheet the way it functions in OS X.

Sorry, I know of no way to get the Office apps to act the same in this regard in OS X as they do in Windows.
Then again, I don't use MS Office on any of my home computers, so I've never had a reason to look either.

 

[SDP123]

vansmith, chscag - Sorry, I wasn't clear before about "Mac Office." I do use MS Office for Mac. I meant I didn't know anyone who uses the Office-type Mac programs, such as "Pages" etc.

 

[SDP123]

bobtomay - you are exactly right. Windows remembers where you were on the last Open and Save, but Mac does not. I don't know if it's Mac's fault or Microsoft's fault, and it really doesn't matter. What matters is that it's absurd, and a gigantic dent in productivity.

 

[SDP123]

MacInWin - I've never been allowed to store company files locally. It is not allowed as part of ISO and Quality and basic IT requirements. But, I've always had remote access to networks, for working from other locations.

 

[MacInWin]

CLIP... It is not allowed as part of ISO and Quality and basic IT requirements. ...CLIP

That's an interesting comment. I worked for IBM and we stored all our documents on the local hard drive for our particular business operations, then backed up to the corporate system for disaster/history reasons. I never heard any ISO 9000 requirement to use networked storage, unless your organization has written directives to that effect and therefore to gain ISO 9000 certification you have to comply. The general ISO 9000 requirements are for conformance to whatever standards your organization sets forth. In general, ISO doesn't care as much what the standards are as they are about conformance to those standards to produce consistent results and operations. In fact, by the 1994 standards, the question that was asked was "Are you doing what your directives say to do?" and nothing more. In 2000 the question became more investigative, asking "Does this process help you achieve the organization objectives? Is it a good process or can you do better?" That latter set of questions gets too subjective for me, but I understand and appreciate what the goal of it can be. I'm just not sure how certification can turn on a subjective question instead of an objective one, but hey, if they can do it, good for them! I generally found that organizations knew how to do things, their problem was compliance with that "how" by everyone. I used to consult on process improvement and our biggest challenge was not to design a better process but to get the organization to change to use that new process instead of the old way. What we would do was create the improved process, then use education and ISO 9000 certification reviews to drive those changes into the organizational DNA.

 

[SDP123]

I've never been able to save to my local hard drive. It would be nice though, in the interest of speed. I'm a technical writer, and colleagues have work to do on the same files I might have open. So, we need to work on the network with a check-in/check-out function, or at the very least, a notification that the file is currently open and a read-only file will be made available.
We're drifting, but this is a fun conversation nonetheless.

 

[MacInWin]

Yeah, this is fun, if distracting. Community writing is different. For that, you MUST keep the official version central so that everyone who collaborates is working from the same sheet of music. In my case, I had clients all over the country, kept their individual documents in individual folders on my laptop. Used email to communicate with the mothership for what collaboration I needed (contracts, accounting, etc). Didn't have much need for collaborative work on documents or spreadsheets. I suspect the ISO requirement you mentioned is in your organization, not the ISO standards.

BTW, given what you do, did you try the sidebar trick I mentioned in post #5? If most of your work is on or under one location, you can put that location in the Finder sidebar, then one click gets you there.

 

[SDP123]

MacInWin - I did try the sidebar favorites thing. Now I have about a dozen new favorites, but you're right - it's easier than drilling through all these far-away nested folder locations.
I've been a Mac user now for only 2 months. I'm just not impressed yet, other than the monitor quality. I'd like to like Mac, and I know they are very popular and well-built, but it just seems like it's not built for working quickly and productively on many files.
So many things destroy my productivity. Getting back to a window that I was using a few clicks ago drives me almost as insane as the bluetooth mouse. When you have, say 10, different windows open on a PC, all those windows are represented in the bottom dock. On my Mac, those 10 windows only go to the bottom dock if I actually minimize each and every window. So if I didn't, because I shouldn't have to, I need to instead minimize the other 9 windows and hope I see the window I want. It's almost like no one at Apple has ever tested the Mac's in a real world, fast paced office environment. So much extra clicking is required! I don't want to minimize every window while I go look at another one. I want to just go look at the other one, and come back to where I was. I must be missing a setting here, somewhere. Every time I learn a new problem, I think, "No way is this how they designed it. There must be a setting." I know I can use Command+tab, but not all windows are represented.
I'm sure Mac's are great for lots of things, but working quickly is not one of them.

 

[MacInWin]

If you want to move quickly between apps, the Dock is how to move from app to app. One click on the dock icon (assuming there is a little activity dot below it) and you are there. You didn't say what applications you are using, but if you want to shift quickly from document to document in Word, for example, CMD+F6 is supposed to cycle between individual documents in Word 2011. I can't test that because I've upgraded to Office 2016. Also, Office 2016 supports split screen so you can have multiple documents on the screen at the same time, a change from Office 2011. If you are using Office 2016, on the toolbar select View, then you can either arrange the documents you have open, or you can select what document you want to see quickly. I find that a pretty quick way to move between open documents/spreadsheets, etc.

Office is, BTW, from Microsoft, so any inefficiencies in how it works is on MS, not your Mac. I left Windows in 2008 and once I got over the learning curve, I now find Windows very awkward at being productive at all. Maybe W10 will improve that, but as of W8, it was still not very user friendly.

 

[chscag]

Also, Office 2016 supports split screen so you can have multiple documents on the screen at the same time, a change from Office 2011. If you are using Office 2016, on the toolbar select View, then you can either arrange the documents you have open, or you can select what document you want to see quickly. I find that a pretty quick way to move between open documents/spreadsheets, etc.

This is probably the best new feature of Office 2016. I often need to work on more than one Word document at the same time and with my 27" screen, it's convenient and easy to work this way. However, other than that and maybe a few other minor things that I liked, I am not overly impressed with Office 2016. But, I may go ahead and buy it anyway when it goes stand alone next month.

 

[vansmith]

If you are using Office 2016, on the toolbar select View, then you can either arrange the documents you have open, or you can select what document you want to see quickly. I find that a pretty quick way to move between open documents/spreadsheets, etc.

...what?! How did I not know about this? This is marvelous! Is there anyway to force it to arrange the windows horizontally though?

 

[toMACsh]

Also, Office 2016 supports split screen so you can have multiple documents on the screen at the same time, a change from Office 2011. If you are using Office 2016, on the toolbar select View, then you can either arrange the documents you have open, or you can select what document you want to see quickly. I find that a pretty quick way to move between open documents/spreadsheets, etc.

Hmm... I can view two Excel files side by side in Office 2008 but I've never tried it in Word. But arranging open documents from the View menu is something I'm not sure I can do. Since I'm not at home, I can't check. How is this done in 2016? Click, and then what?

 

[MacInWin]

I experimented with it a bit in Word. Opened three documents, then selected View and Arrange all. The three were stacked at full wide, each with 1/3 of the screen. I then dragged the right edge of two until each was 1/2 the width, then dragged them to be side-by-side in the top third. Then I expanded the last one to take 2/3's of the screen. So it seems what View/Arrange All does is to share the screen amongst all the Word documents and then you can adjust to suit. Excel doesn't have that same function, although you can open multiple documents and manually drag the edges until you have the same kind of arrangement manually. Curious that they didn't implement the same initial function in all the Office products.

 

[vansmith]

Curious that they didn't implement the same initial function in all the Office products.

Or offer the option to to do this horizontally. Honestly, it wouldn't have been all that hard (instead of resizing windows to fit the width of the screen and share the vertical space, you just have them fit the height and share the horizontal width).