>>I kind of expected this would be already resolved at the world level - the disks becoming larger and larger and more and more computer work now involving combination of existing files - that there would be standard shortcuts to your favorite places in all file dialogs. But no, not even on linux - LibreOffice has some of its own hand-rolled solution, Gimp has another, file managers have their own...
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>Found it, will fit the bill: message #01660218.

I knew there had to be some serious gotcha, it's a M$ control, it can't possibly do everthing as expected, there must be something to have experience with. It's the .initDir property. When you call the comCtl.showOpen() (and probably other file-oriented actions), it doesn't just display that folder. IT GOES THERE and takes you with it. It changes YOUR current directory, typical M$ roughshod style.

This being not the first time I ran into this type of issue with M$'s pieces, it was easy to spot on time. Still, M$, WHY?