My understanding is that the change from saving downloads in the Windows Temp folder for "Open with [relevant application]" to saving them in your default downloads folder addressed problems with data loss for users who could not re-download files they forgot to save after they were removed from the Temp folder.
Firefox 98 did add a new clean-up option: a "Delete" item on the right-click context menu for items on the Downloads list. That deletes the file from disk and leaves a notation on the list that the file is missing/removed (the next time it is updated). You can use that to remove files you do not want to keep. But yes, it's an extra step and you have to remember which were which.
I really have no idea whether Firefox will return to using the system Temp folder. Why aren't other browsers doing it anymore?
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You already hinted at the workaround I'm using, but in more detail:
(1) Change the default download folder to a "temp" folder I created
(2) Set Firefox to always ask where I want to save a file so I can choose a real folder when I want to keep the file
On the Settings page, it looks like this:
@donnie wrote:Actually, since version 98, it has now started saving files even when we use "Open in Firefox" option. This is what other people are complaining about. It used to be the way you explained it, but recently it not like that anymore
Okay, this is going to sound picky, but there are two different places where you'll find "Open in Firefox" and they work completely differently.
(1) Setting PDFs to "Open in Firefox" on the Settings page
Unless the site does something tricky to work around it, Firefox will open the PDF in a tab in the built-in viewer. The URL in the address bar will be the http or https address of the file online. The file will be stored in the web content cache with web pages and other embedded files.
If you want to open the PDF in an external viewer from the built-in viewer, there are multiple steps because first you need to use the viewer's download/save button to save the file to your computer, and then you can open it: on the Downloads list, right-click > Open in [relevant application].
(2) Setting PDFs to "Always Ask"
Firefox will handle the file as a download. The change comes with "Open in Firefox" or "Open with [relevant application]":
- Before Firefox 98: The file was saved in the system Temp folder on Windows and Linux
- Starting in Firefox 98: The file is saved in the default downloads folder (the one next to "Save files to:" on the Settings page)
(3) Setting PDFs to "Use [relevant application]"
Firefox will handle the file as a download:
- Before Firefox 98: The file was saved in the system Temp folder on Windows and Linux
- Starting in Firefox 98: The file is saved in the default downloads folder (the one next to "Save files to:" on the Settings page)
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Firefox 98 does have a new context menu item to remove downloaded files one by one: right-click > Delete (this is permanent and bypasses the Recycle Bin)
At some point after the deletion, the text on the list will change to indicate that the file was moved or is missing. I'm not aware of any way to do this in bulk.
One Workaround
What I'm doing for now is this pair of settings:
(1) Change the default download folder to a "temp" folder I created
(2) Set Firefox to always ask where I want to save a file so I can choose a real folder when I want to keep the file
On the Settings page, it looks like this:
At some point, I might dump the contents of my TEMP folder, but like the old system, for me it's "out of sight, out of mind."
Yes, Firefox 98 changed how "Open in [application]" and "Use [application]" work. Before Firefox 98, the download was saved in the Windows Temp folder, and now it is saved in the Downloads folder instead. I think this was changed because some people would lose a critical download because they didn't realize that "Open" didn't save the file permanently. But now people who preferred the old behavior have a workflow issue.
As a workaround, you could create a new folder in your Downloads folder named TEMP and set that as your default Download folder. This will catch all the files opened using "Open in" and you can use the "Always ask you where to save files" choice so you can save your normal downloads in a more useful place.
***** EDIT *****
This is the combination of settings I'm thinking of. "Save files to" is the default folder used for Open, but you can override that when saving a file:
@jscher2000 wrote:This is the combination of settings I'm thinking of. "Save files to" is the default folder used for Open, but you can override that when saving a file:
Yes, but that is an extra faff everytime... Takes away the simplicity of the 'open' or 'save' button choice.
It will still be required to manually empty the downloads/temp folder to clear the junk and won't that junk then fill up the 'trash' (recycle bin) with items one didn't want in the first place? Resulting in other recycled stuff being permanently deleted a lot sooner unless one dramatically increases the capacity for the 'trash' bin...?
@gramcar wrote:WHY DON'T YOU JUST PUT THE "ALWAYS ASK WHERE TO SAVE FILES" BACK???
"Always ask you where to save files" is still there. However, a setting to always pop up the Download dialog (Open or Save or Cancel) is only available for listed content types. Firefox 101 will add a new setting below the list that lets you choose between the Firefox 98+ approach (Save File for unknown content types) and the earlier approach (Show download dialog for unknown content types):
