I really loved that I when I clicked open the file was saved in one directory, which I could purge whenever I needed space. Now when I browse, I need to click save, find the directory for my “temporary files” save, wait until it downloads then click open.

WTF?!? I don’t call this a feature. If there are people who like doing stuff this way, then there should be an option if not, then why the hell they changed a behaviour which everyone got used to for such a long time…

This is so far the biggest disappointed in 9.0 (next to changing default hisory cache, and some weird periodic increases of CPU usage)

One of the first “wtf?!? experiences” i made with O9 was, that my downloads (i usually always use “open”, for reading pdfs, etc) diapered - i loved that feture Hello!

One of the first “wtf?!? experiences” i made with O9 was, that my downloads (i usually always use “open”, for reading pdfs, etc) diapered - i loved that feture <O9. Every month or so i skim through the files, eventually rediscovers some funy stuff i d/l the past month.

So OPERA: WE NEED A OPTION FOR THAT!!!!

My solution so far: in windows, just disallow your user or Group (usually Adiministrators) to delete files in the cahce4\temporary_downloads. (Via the extended Form). It works well so far - but its a rather dirty workaround.

Daniel

I completely agree that it was the wrong thing to do, to just change something that will affect all users like this without pointing it out and without any way to fix it.

One is no more logical or illogical than the other. There is no more valid logical reason to think that if I click I on file I would like Opera to delete it than to think that I would like to keep it. And not deleting it means that you never risk dataloss. And I think it is much more logical to never, ever, risk deleting files that a user wants.

1. open has to be different from save

It has always been different than save. Save didn’t open the file.

There’s no empirical reason why “Open” has to mean “Temporarily Save, then Open” especially when you have given me a place to store downloads.

2. open html-files or downloads is about the same (do you want to have all your WebPages being saved permanently?)

That’s absurd. Web pages and externally handled documents are not nearly the same. They have never been handled the same.

3. Opera is an internet-browser - user should not have to deal with opened files (with a different application) that are saved permanently, although he doesn’t know about it (most people don’t care)

How do you know what most users feel? Have you done any study, or are you just making your own opinion normative? I am not claiming that most people are or are not on one side or another. All I am saying is that they should have given their users a way to automatically save data. All they did was give users a way to automatically lose data and assume that will be just fine. I can already tell you that I have been bitten by this.

My argument is that if Opera was going to change a long-standing behavior, they ought to have provided a way for people to use the behavior that Opera trained us to have for years and years.

4. cache size has its size for some reason (I’d expect the downloaded files to be deleted automatically when cache is full, the file is the oldest cache content and the file is not in use any more; and more sophisticated I’d expect Opera to ask at least to save file when the file triggered to open makes the cache useless for webpages or may be even bigger than defined cache size.

I can nearly guarantee that in its current implementation, Temporary Downloads will not be considered as a part of the cache if you move the Temporary Downloads fodler out of the main cache folder. Which means that it will on Windows and won’t on Mac.

If user selects “save” it is clear that this file will remain on the disk.

And my point is that I have never had to think about whether or not Opera is going to delete a Word or PDF file that I download if I forget that I chose “Open” instead of “Save”

There are several solutions for your needs that fit better to user workflow than using an Opera system path (the download path) which is hidden for most of the users.

The default Download directry is more certainly not hidden from most of the users.

Possible: Have check boxes within a details extender: that could be checked with save file

• “open when downloaded”
• “open folder when downloaded” (this point I really miss in the context-menu of transfers)
• use this option every time or only once

That would severely clutter the download dialog.

It should be default not to open anything as it can be really annoying to work and some application pops up.

I would have no problem with “Save” being the default if “Open” can still be made to save the file that I download to my regular download directory.

I assume Opera devs wanted to improve the file handling and do this inside Opera instead of relying on the OS temp folder handling. Seems to be not quite finished yet, but as it probably works for most users the remaining parts got lower priority. And documentation is easier to be done when it’s finished.

A cleaner solution still would have been to just leave the opened files in the cache, which they could have been controlled by the cache size limits as you suggested earlier

Additional information from toman on IRC yesterday: The temporary download folder is cleared on startup of Opera (this is not the way which I think is logical with 4. above).

If that is true, what coule more more unintuitive than having Opera delete files when it starts? And that directly conflicts with the documentation (scant as it is) which says that the files are deleted when the cache is emptied.

And his advice was to save the opened file using the capabilities of the application the file is opened with.

Which completely misses the point that Opera is now requiring me to think about whether I saved the file and then opened it (meaning I don‘t have to save it again) or opened the file and now have to save it.

And documentation is easier to be done when it’s finished.

Any new feature that deletes data that I have downloaded damned well ought to be completely documented in a clear fashion and work precisely as advertised. If it isn’t ready for prime-time, then it has no business being released to the general public as anything called “final.”

It doesn’t work as advertised.

It doesn’t work consistently.

It can cause lost data.

There’s no denying those 3 points. (I could further argue that it doesn’t work intuitively, although that would be debatable.) You can debate whether or not people ought to have expected that Opera would save them or not, but all I have to say is that I’ve been using Opera for 6 years (at least) and I’ve grown accustomed to how Opera has worked, and now they changed it without really fixing the problem, just changing it.

All they did was change one problem (people who didn’t like opened files to be saved were not happy with the old way) for another (people who liked opened files saved are not happy with the new way). Objectively, this is in no way an improvement over the old situation, it just shifted the group of people who liked what happened

All of could have been easily avoided with a simple preference setting, much simpler than what you suggested. If that couldn’t be accomplished, then they shouldn’t have changed it, at least not in anything they want to call “final” form. It’s slipshod, and not what we ought to expect from Opera.

1. open has to be different from save
2. open html-files or downloads is about the same (do you want to have all your WebPages being saved permanently?)
3. Opera is an internet-browser - user should not have to deal with opened files (with a different application) that are saved permanently, although he doesn’t know about it (most people don’t care)
4. cache size has its size for some reason (I’d expect the downloaded files to be deleted automatically when cache is full, the file is the oldest cache content and the file is not in use any more; and more sophisticated I’d expect Opera to ask at least to save file when the file triggered to open makes the cache useless for webpages or may be even bigger than defined cache size.

If user selects “save” it is clear that this file will remain on the disk.

There are several solutions for your needs that fit better to user workflow than using an Opera system path (the download path) which is hidden for most of the users.

Possible: Have check boxes within a details extender: that could be checked with save file

• “open when downloaded”
• “open folder when downloaded” (this point I really miss in the context-menu of transfers)
• use this option every time or only once

If the opened file is shown in transfers it could be saved in different folder using context menu (as long as it is not deleted).

I assume Opera devs wanted to improve the file handling and do this inside Opera instead of relying on the OS temp folder handling. Seems to be not quite finished yet, but as it probably works for most users the remaining parts got lower priority. And documentation is easier to be done when it’s finished.

Additional information from toman on IRC yesterday: The temporary download folder is cleared on startup of Opera (this is not the way which I think is logical with 4. above). And his advice was to save the opened file using the capabilities of the application the file is opened with.

I could manually open the files. On my slow dialup account, I often have to wait some time for files to download. I don’t want to have to remember to go back to Opera when it finishes.

You’re right that the workaround doesn’t address the correctness or politics of the change… it’s a workaround. A real solution is in Opera ASA’s hands: they are the only ones who can fix it. Whether they choose the fix that I have suggested or another one, I don’t care. I just think they ought to make it possible for me to save all my downloaded files (opened or not) without having to come up with hacks like this one (especially since I also use Windows which doesn’t have the ability to use this hack… and I don’t know of a way to fix it for Windows.

One could for every case “Save” then rightclick the saved filename in the Transfer window, choosing “Open.” The app would be run and the file would persist.

This workaround does not address the correctness or politics of Opera’s change—it sideskirts the issue.