Safari files wandering off the beaten path

[magilla]

I just noticed something starting to happen with Safari (v.5.06 (5533,22.3)) running on my older iMac G5 under 10.5.8.

When downloading individual files and saving them to a certain "group" on my external drive, Safari seems to get "lost" about 40% of the time as to where to save the next file after the previously downloaded one has already been saved.

When I have a folder set up on my external drive to save these files, and I right-click "save file as..." (so I can specify a specific filename),about 4 out of 10 times, Safari defaults to saving files back to where it's "Preferences>General>Save downloaded files to:" was listed as "downloads" INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING WHERE I'VE SAVED THE PREVIOUSLY DOWNLOADED FILE - it happens even though I've changed the default location to my EXTERNAL DRIVE, Safari still tries to save the next downloaded file to the previously selected "default" location of "downloads" on my main drive.

Maybe it's just me being a holdover from the old OS9 days when, once you saved a file to a particular folder (on whatever drive) the next file automatically wanted to be saved to that same folder. I thought that this was the way it worked in the new Kitty Cat operating systems.

Any ideas as to why Safari is stumbling around off the beaten track?

 

[magilla]

bump

 

[Bear]

...
Any ideas as to why Safari is stumbling around off the beaten track?

Safari uses a fixed download folder. You can select any folder you want in Safari preferences, but every download goes in to that folder.

For comparison Firefox allows you to either have a fixed folder like Safari or to act like you want and allowing you to select the download folder for each item and remembering what the last folder you downloaded to was.

 

[magilla]

Safari uses a fixed download folder. You can select any folder you want in Safari preferences, but every download goes in to that folder.

For comparison Firefox allows you to either have a fixed folder like Safari or to act like you want and allowing you to select the download folder for each item and remembering what the last folder you downloaded to was.

Thanks for the clarification, Bear. "Bear" with me though (couldn't resist - sorry) but any idea why Safari would exhibit this behavior on what appears to be a random basis?

What I'm really trying to say is that sometimes Safari keeps "following along" with where I had it save the last downloaded file and downloads the next file to the same place, but sometimes it doesn't and it reverts back to the "download" folder.

Would I hurt anything by trashing my Safari preferences file then restarting the system again to see what happens?

Thanks.