Google Chrome might soon suggest where to save when you download large files. We spotted an experimental flag in the Chromium code today for this.

Smart suggestion for large downloads

To be honest, it is not 100% clear how this feature is going to work. Even after reading the flag description, code change comment and event the feature request bug, things are a bit vague.

Code change comment:

“Add smart suggestion for large downloads flag. This CL adds the flag for handling smart suggestion for large downloads.”

Flag:

“Smart suggestion for large downloads: Smart suggestion that offers download locations for large files.”

Bug:

“This is the tracking bug for the feature request on smart handling of large downloads.
PRD: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TOqBoGx9vSrdGgttUGMvrX8qWjMXeZr7JcXa4vmhJxw/edit

Basically this would involve
1. Defining a set of conditions based on download size, and mime-type on whether or not trigger a dialog/infobar.
2. Showing the dialog UI. Ideally, it should have options to change the file name, location, and checkbox to not show this message again or do this for all subsequent large downloads.
3. Handling the case where the user didn’t make a decision. All of these should be handled in the same way as Download Location Dialog.”

How does it work?

I would love to get my hands on the design document mentioned in the bug. However, that document is private.

Hence, based on what’s available, here is what I think. Whenever you download a large file, Google Chrome will look at your computer’s storage and suggest a folder or drive to save it.

If your computer does not have enough space to save it, Chrome can warn you even before you start the download.

Would this work differently on a Chromebook? That’s something we will have to wait and see.

Conclusion

As I said, things are still a big vague here. However, in the coming weeks, we will definitely track this flag and share our findings here.

Now that you read all the available information, do you have a different take on how this might work? Let us know in the comments section.

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Source: Gerrit and bugs.chromium.org.