diff --git a/src/atom.coffee b/src/atom.coffee
index dde0960ab..8903a9cef 100644
--- a/src/atom.coffee
+++ b/src/atom.coffee
@@ -784,6 +784,8 @@ class Atom extends Model
     callback(showSaveDialogSync())
 
   showSaveDialogSync: (options={}) ->
+    if _.isString(options)
+      options = defaultPath: options
     currentWindow = @getCurrentWindow()
     dialog = remote.require('dialog')
     options.title ?= 'Save File'