At every startup MATLAB creates a folder in users/"user"/Documents. How do I stop this? This isn't my working folder.

MATLAB R2017B on iMac. All software current. Each time I open MATLAB is creates an empty folder called MATLAB in my Documents folder. Nothing goes in here. I use a different folder for my M files and workspace etc. I can't find any preference or startup setting to stop this happening. I know it's harmless but it's a nuisance. How do I prevent this folder from being created?

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

In your startup.m file delete that folder and cd to the folder you want.

>  edit startup.m

then:

delete('c:\users\documents\MATLAB'); % Or wherever.
cd('c:/blah/foobar/snafu');  % Wherever you want.

Make sure the folder where startup.m is is on the search path.

Answer 2

[Bernard Abramson]

Thank you. How do I ensure the folder for startup.m (/Applications/MATLAB_R2017b.app/toolbox/local) is on the search path?

[Image Analyst]

Use setpath on the Home tab of the tool ribbon. It already should be on the path though if you're just using the default, though if you want the startup.m file to live in a folder with all of your other custom code, then put it there but add it to the path. This is what I do. I have a folder d:\MATLAB (secondary internal SS drive) and have it there. Then I have subfolders in there for all of the hundreds of different individual/separate projects that I work on.

Answer 3

[John Newton]

Thanks for trying but none of that worked. Editing or moving startup.m causes Matlab to think that the app is not installed in an administrator user (which it is). This is more serious than the problem I'm trying to solve.

I'll live with it.