This came as a bit of a surprise. I really thought Direct Folders was no longer being developed (even alternativeto.net has it listed as "discontinued"). It looks like there is still hope for some further development.

If you don't know what it is, it is a productivity utility for Windows to extend the open/save etc. file dialog window functionality, to enable direct access to recently used folders and files, to favourite folders, to force the dialog window to always open at a preset (e.g. larger) size, and many other tricks. It's a massive time-saver.

This is genuinely one of the first utility software I install on a new Windows machine. While there are alternatives, such as Listary, I never found them an exact replacement and stuck with DF.

It's 50% off (a lifetime licence, whatever that means) for first-time buyers, and can be installed on unlimited number of machines. Well worth USD 9.97

http://blog.codesector.com/2017/04/22/direct-folders-3-8-50-discount/

P.S. It looks like they haven't fixed any bugs in this release (you can read about them in the comments on their blog), but even with them I find it an extremely useful software. And now there is hope that some of these might still get fixed.

Like yourself, this was one of my first go-to apps for Windows. Amazing!

Ah well. Macs have most (but not all) of this functionality built-in.

I don't know if there are any other Direct Folders fans in here (I can't live without it on Windows).

There is some hope on the horizon, as development has resumed, and the developers are asking for suggestions:

https://blog.codesector.com/2021/03/24/direct-folders-forum/