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Is there a way to change file picker dialog path input? I would like to type the path myself instead of clicking buttons to specify the destination path. In Nautilus I can hit Ctrl+L, to show the path text box. In Save page as dialog the same shortcut takes me to name text box.

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    Thanks for the ctrl - L tip! I was just looking for that
    – Dave
    Dec 6, 2017 at 12:00

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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I have my nautilus set to always show the location bar instead of the buttons and in Firefox, I see the location bar by default too (what you want, I believe).

To do this you have to change a gconf/dconf entry.

Up to Ubuntu 11.10:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry --type=bool true

From 12.04 LTS and up:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry true

You might need to restart nautilus (with nautilus -q) to see the effect but you might not.

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    Thanks for quick answer. It worked in nautilus but not in firefox file picker dialog. When I hit Ctrl+S in Firefox the path buttons are still there. When I open nautilus (i.e.: Places -> Home Folder) the Location text box is there and I can type the path. I log out from the session and log back in. Firefox dialog does not change a bit. Is there something more that I can try ?
    – Casual Coder
    Nov 17, 2010 at 11:40
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    Sorry I thought you meant a file picker like the upload dialogue (which this does work for). I don't know why I thought that because you've very explicitly said you want this for the save dialogue. It's odd that it doesn't do this for the open/save dialogues too. Strange thing is this works in other things (eg Gedit) and Firefox is supposed to be using the native widgets. I suspect there's a bug in the way it loads the dialogue. I'll keep looking.
    – Oli ♦
    Nov 17, 2010 at 12:43
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    Yes I'm talking about 'Save Page As' dialog and 'Save element as' dialog from context menu. Both of them are lacking the 'Pencil' icon that is in 'Open File' dialog. Using this icon in 'Open File' dialog I can open 'Location' text box and this setting persists. Also Ctrl+L shortcut works. I would like to have this behaviour in 'Save Page As' dialog too. Thanks again for your time and effort.
    – Casual Coder
    Nov 17, 2010 at 13:15
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    Wonder why always_use_location_entry isn't the default. Pasting a path from the shell is so much more efficient that having to browse.
    – weberjn
    Nov 17, 2020 at 13:28
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+50

In Ubuntu 12.04 and up, you can use Ubuntu Tweak to set by default the address bar in Nautilus.

So, open Ubuntu Tweak, go to Tweaks tab, select File Manage and put ON this field: Use the location entry instead of the pathbar:

enter image description here

From terminal you can make the same thing using the following command:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry true

Now, when you are in the Save File window dialog, in the field Name, if you insert an absolute for the file to be saved, that file will be saved in that path:

enter image description here

And when you are in the Open File window dialog, in the field Location, if you insert any location path do you wish and press Enter, you will be directed to that location

enter image description here

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  • Not an acceptable solution for me, because I want to be able to copy the path (i.e. that's already visible as breadcrumbs) to the clipboard! Why does Ubuntu make things mouse-friendly when most people use the keyboard?
    – Sanjay Manohar
    Jan 24, 2018 at 13:53
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This setting is now, in later vers of Ubuntu, changed with the dConf editor. Changing as above does not work. info about dconf v gconf: When to use gconf vs dconf?

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