[Help] Save opens up a Save dialogue box

[Ulf Ayirtahsk Berg]

Hello,

I joined just now to ask about this nonsensical reaction to clicking the Save icon. If anyone has a pointer, thanks in advance.

Operating system: Windows 10 Home

Browser: Brave

TiddlyWiki: Downloaded empty.html one minute ago from tiddlywiki.com

Cheers

[Mark S.]

That is known as the default mechanism for saving. If you find it inconvenient, there are some 20+ others to choose from:

   https://tiddlywiki.com/#GettingStarted

However, since you're using Brave, probably only the solutions based on node.js will be of use to you.

There's another experimental approach, using a windows powershell script, that you can read about in this thread:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/tiddlywiki/restore%7Csort:date/tiddlywiki/tMLfNs1K3JU/ApVF6qIaBgAJ

It still uses the default save mechanism, but makes it more convenient by copying your downloaded file back to its original location.

[Eric Shulman]

On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 6:20:55 PM UTC-7, Ulf Ayirtahsk Berg wrote:

For security reasons, modern web browsers do not let you *directly* write to the local filesystem.

TiddlyWiki is built on top of browser tech.  As such, it has the same restrictions on local filesystem access.

Fortunately, nearly all web browsers DO have one reliable method of writing to the local filesystem: *downloading a file*.

Downloading offers some measure of implicit information privacy/security because it requires user-interaction (no silent saving of files), and uses system-level dialogs to access the filesystem (no direct program access to read your directory info).

By default, when you try to save a locally-stored TiddlyWiki without any add-ons or helper apps, it triggers what appears to be a *download* activity, even though the file is clearly already on your own system.

Many browsers automatically save downloaded files to a specific location (e.g., "/Downloads" or similar).

Some browsers allow you to change this default location to a different directory and/or "ask for location" each time you download so you can specify the desired filename and directory.

If you tell your browser to point to the directory in which your TiddlyWiki file is stored, then when you press "save", you get a system-level dialog that allows you to enter a new filename or select an existing file.

Most systems will automatically suggest a filename by appending a number to the current filename, e.g., "index.html (1)".  You can, of course, select the *existing* TiddlyWiki filename, e.g., index.html (without any "(n)" suffix), which should then prompt you for permission to overwrite the previously saved file.  After saving, if you reload your TiddlyWiki file, it will contain your saved changes as you would expect.

Although the "default download saver" ultimately *does* let you save changes locally, some people find the experience to be less-than-optimal.  To address this, there are *many* different add-ons and system-specific helper apps that can potentially provide a smoother experience, depending upon your usage patterns and platform(s) of choice.

https://tiddlywiki.com/#GettingStarted

Hope this helps,

-e

Eric Shulman

TiddlyTools: "Small Tools for Big Ideas" (tm) - http://tiddlytools.github.io/

InsideTiddlyWiki: The Missing Manuals

[TonyM]

Nice work Eric

Tony

[Ulf Ayirtahsk Berg]

Thank you for the help, Mark and Eric.

I have used TiddlyWiki now and then since probably more than ten years, and was trying it again now.

'For security reasons, modern web browsers do not let you *directly* write to the local filesystem.'

I hadn't noticed this important change. It takes away the whole point of TiddlyWiki, as far as I am concerned.  I will find some other way of taking notes, unless I make me some server (I know TiddlySpot still works like the old way, except by saving to the server, of course.) Thank you for updating me.

[TonyM]

Ulf,

This security issue explains why we need to use another save method to make it transparent. It is not a reason to avoid tiddlywiki because other solutions will have their own limitations, and few of the features.

We are always working to simplify and enhance tiddlywiki but at the same time we are adding powerful features that take it way beyond the capabilities of other solutions.

If you have access to firefox I recommend timimi and once installed you can forget it. There are also simple cloud drive and apache/php saving options if you want access on the internet away from your computer.

There are other options for saving just ask.

You do not need to pay anything, you have an open source solution with a strong and helpful community and own your own content with tiddlywiki. Please do not let this small fact influence yourself away from the best decision you are about to make.

Who knows how far you can go with tiddlywiki!

Regards
Tony

[Mohammad]

Added to TW-Scripts