In Ubuntu 14.04 with GNOME 3.10, replaced every shred of nautilus with pcmanfm 1.2.3. Searched through every config file, checked the issue tracker, nothing can seem to explain how I can force the file chooser / save as / open dialog to show files in a compact view (or any view other than the one-column detail listing).
Part of the problem is I just don't know what the underlying process is for this in general - nautilus somehow? pcmanfm? gnome-shell? gdm? X?!
Here is an example of the compact view
1 Answer
As found in my quick research online, particularly from this answer on another askubuntu.com question, the file chooser and save as dialogues are related to the graphical toolkit upon which an application is built, and in no way related to default file manager. Since most programs use gtk toolkit under Ubuntu, I see no possible way of altering those dialogues. There's possibility of switching to Qt-based desktops, but at least in my experience under razorqt that didn't do the trick. Therefore my answer to this question is altering file dialogues is impossible. There's other, more experienced users that me, hence perhaps there might be other answer, so my answer isn't conclusive
