topic Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Recent Project list saved somewhere

RobertBorchert — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 14:19:55 GMT

I am wondering if the list of Recent Projects when you start pro is saved as a file or bookmark somewhere on your disk drive.

Our situation is when we are working in the office we work direct off our intranet.

When we work remote we VPN into our network, then we can work off our laptops.

However, we also have the option to start a Remote Desktop Connection so we can remote into a virtual machine, that is significantly more powerful than our laptops.

Yesterday we set up new RDC's and I am setting up Pro for me in my new connection.

So I am wondering if there is a set of files or some such I can copy and paste. Like we would for SDE and database connections in ArcMap

Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere

Robert_LeClair — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 14:34:00 GMT

Robert - from what I've been able to figure out - the user.config file in your C:\Users\<user_profile>\AppData\Roaming\Esri\ArcGISPro.exe_StrongName_yhpsrysqpn4fvmb0spwbakt5o5e50din\2.9.0.0 is the one that stores your recent projects that ArcGIS Pro "sees."

To test, copy that file to your RDC machine and see if the recent projects show up in the RDC. Note: the ArcGIS Pro.exe_StrongName_* will likely be different values that what I have shown in my response.

Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere

JillianStanford — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 14:45:39 GMT

Hi,

I poked around in the file system and for me it looks like it is stored in the local app data at -

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Esri\ArcGISPro.exe_StrongName_[GUID]\2.9.0.0\user.config

It is an xml file and the recent projects are written to a setting called "RecentProject". I don't think it will be as simple as copying this file but you could copy and paste the content of this node.

Jill

Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere

RobertBorchert — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 15:25:12 GMT

That worked perfect. I changed the name of the existing user.config and just pasted the one from my c:\ and they were all there.

And you can go up a directory or 2 and copy your favorites there as well. Though I already had connection files ready to go and simply added them in that way.

Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere

PhilLampe — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 12:59:06 GMT

I have a somewhat similar situation, where I want to copy all recent & pinned files from one machine to the other. In my case, I've moved from a desktop (ArcPro v3.4) to a laptop (ArcPro v3.5).

I would like to be able to transfer all them to the laptop (v3.5).

If I simply copy the entire user.config file will it cause any problems to the laptop installation?

Re: Recent Project list saved somewhere

Robert_LeClair — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 21:39:46 GMT

@PhilLampe - best thing to do is to open the user.config file on the the old laptop, search for "RecentProjects" in the file and copy the data in the <ArrayofString> area and paste that into the same area of the new laptop. That way, you're NOT copying the entire contents of the user.config file from the old laptop to the new laptop.