In a personal Internet communication device, a system for directing the storage of files uses a file navigation program to control the location of where files may be stored by the user. With the system, attempts to save files by the file navigation program are directed to a predefined or default storage location in a fixed directory structure. All other applications on the person Internet communicator may also be modified to control file save operations. The person Internet communicator is further configured to maintain the file save associations with the predefined or default storage location, even when the user has previously saved files to another location.