dotnet / dotnet/docs-maui

Clarity on the where to store user data files

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#919 5 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
doc-enhancement dotnet-maui/tech dotnet-mobile/prod Pri1
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Description

### Type of issue

Other (describe below)

### Description

The documentation explains that the App data directory is "To get the app's top-level directory for any files that aren't user data files. These files are backed up with the operating system syncing framework."

I realize that most of the people reading this documentation are long-time Xamarin.forms users, and probably understand *exactly* what the previous sentence means, but it begs the question -- where should user data files be stored? The cache directory is temporary, so we can't use that; and bundled files are read-only.

After much Googling, it turns out that the App data directory is for iCloud and whatever Google Drive (?) files, so permission is an issue.

After *more* Googling, and reading over the Notes tutorial, I was able to discover this:

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)

But it would be nice if the docs spelled this out clearly, or at least *mentioned* it.

### Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/platform-integration/storage/file-system-helpers?view=net-maui-9.0

### Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs-maui/blob/live/docs/platform-integration/storage/file-system-helpers.md

### Document Version Independent Id

5b7e12aa-3c09-0f82-2fa2-a39c2c8065d8

### Article author

daortin

### Metadata

* ID: 5b7e12aa-3c09-0f82-2fa2-a39c2c8065d8
* Service: **dotnet-mobile**
* Sub-service: **dotnet-maui**

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