Table of Contents

About

Application Data (APPDATA) is a hidden folder where application can saved their data for one user.

To share data between several user, the ProgramData folder should be used.

OS

Windows

  • Default Location
C:\Users\UserName\AppData

  • Environment variable

Process / Thread - Environment Variable

 %APPDATA% 
  • Structure

The appdata folders contains three subfolders

C:\Users\UserName\AppData
                           \Local
                            \LocalLow
                            \Roaming 

where:

  • local contains data that will stay on the computer (cache, big file..
  • localLow contains data that may be used even in Protected mode (with more restricted security settings)
  • roaming is the data that would roam (ie sync from computer to computer) after a user login on the same domain

Linux

  • The appdata equivalent for linux is a hidden home sub-directory with the name of the application
~/.appName

where:

  • ~ is a shortcut for home

Documentation / Reference