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When in Incognito mode, Google Chrome doesn't seem to remember the last download directory for HTML pages. Images/executables/etc work fine, but whenever an HTML page is downloaded via Save Page As, the directory defaults back to My Documents\My Downloads on XP (or %USERPROFILE%\Downloads for Win7).

What gives? Why are only HTML pages affected by this?

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  • Might be because Web pages can be saved as either just the html-page or as complete page with images and stuff. That requires url rewriting and making of subfolders etc. Btw I cannot reproduce this on gnu/linux.
    – micke
    Dec 28, 2011 at 20:15
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    I can reproduce it, even on Linux. This is probably a bug. You should report it.
    – Patches
    Dec 29, 2011 at 2:49

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You're right that it's odd that it only happens with "Save Page As." But generally speaking, I suspect that this is a feature, not a bug. Remembering where a file was last saved could be considered an information leak of exactly the type that Incognito mode is intended to minimize.

Chrome appears to use the native operating system's dialog box for saving files. I'm not deeply familiar with how they work, but it may be that they have a way of being explicitly called to not remember the most-recently-used folder.

Also, for many operating systems, the "most-recently-used folder" is remembered within the user's profile (so that it is available across multiple applications). It may be that Incognito mode invokes a temporary or restricted user profile that does not allow the MRU folder to be recorded.

So maybe it is a bug -- I would want this behavior for all saved files, not just HTML files.

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