# Remember the most recent opened directory

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/remember-the-most-recent-opened-directory/17368
**Category:** Development
**Tags:** proposal
**Created:** [December 12, 2025, 9:38am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/remember-the-most-recent-opened-directory/17368 "2025-12-12T09:38:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/csatizoltan/32/6997_2.png) [@CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/CsatiZoltan)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2025, 9:38am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/remember-the-most-recent-opened-directory/17368/1 "2025-12-12T09:38:06Z")

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Hi,

I noticed that ParaView (and CMB too) does not remember the most recently opened directory after a restart. I.e. when you click on _File_ → _Open…_, it offers the same default directory (which is `$HOME` on my machine).

I thought that it would be useful to offer the user the most recent directory he opened, or at least add an option in the settings to have this behavior.

A way to achieve this could be:

1. Store the last used directory in the _ParaView.ini_ file. There is already a section `[RecentDirs]`, we could add a new one, e.g. `[MostRecentOpenDir]`.
2. Modify the [`pqLoadDataReaction` class](https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/-/blob/master/Qt/ApplicationComponents/pqLoadDataReaction.cxx) so that it tries to fetch the value of `[MostRecentOpenDir]` from _ParaView.ini_.
3. Add an option in the [Settings](https://docs.paraview.org/en/latest/ReferenceManual/customizingParaView.html).

Are you interested in this development? If so, but it is not a priority for you, I can try implementing it in a merge request.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2025, 12:23pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/remember-the-most-recent-opened-directory/17368/2 "2025-12-12T12:23:28Z")

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There is a recent dir section in the file dialog:

 ![a](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/3X/4/0/4030d62596379ac15291057cf83c6c491e7d3c23.png)

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### Author: ![CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/csatizoltan/32/6997_2.png) [@CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/CsatiZoltan)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/remember-the-most-recent-opened-directory/17368/3 "2025-12-12T12:31:53Z")

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True. It is good enough.