I use different desktops as project spaces. This generally works great and feels organized. I can work on multiple concurrent projects and context-switch at will when I want to resume work on a different project. However, there's one problem when it comes to the downloads folder...
If I reveal a downloaded item (using Safari's downloads button and the magnifying glass icon next to a download), and then at some point switch desktops/projects, download a new file, and do the same thing to reveal the new item's location in the Finder, the Finder gets focus, but the front-most Finder window is whatever happened to already be opened on that desktop - not the downloads folder. If there's no Finder window already open, the desktop gets focus. That's because the downloads folder is already open on a different desktop. I am forced to search through my desktops to find the already-opened downloads folder and either move it to the desktop I'm working on or close it, go back, and re-open it from Safari. I suppose I can select the downloads folder from the Finder's Window menu, but I'd rather not have to switch desktops to get to the file I want. Ideally, the downloads button/menu in Safari would just behave as expected.
Can anyone think of a way to get Safari's downloads button to always reveal an item's location and force it to open a new finder window if the current desktop doesn't have one already (but another one does)? Can I force Safari to always open a new Finder window to the downloads folder? Can I create my own downloads button in the Safari toolbar that does what I want? Is there some good folder action to automatically close the downloads folder when some clever thing happens? Is there a way to assign JUST the downloads Finder window to all desktops? It seems silly that this isn't already handled intuitively by Apple.