SQL Developer User Information Directory

SQL Developer stores information about user-defined reports, SQL history, and temporary files created to buffer statements entered in SQL Worksheets. This information is stored in and under the SQL Developer user information directory, which has the following location:

On Windows systems: the HOME environment variable location, if defined; otherwise the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, if defined; otherwise <sqldeveloper_install>\sqldeveloper\jdev\system
On Linux and Mac OS X systems: the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, if defined; otherwise ~/.sqldeveloper

To specify a non-default SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, do either of the following:

Set the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR environment variable to specify another directory path.
Edit the <sqldeveloper_install>/sqldeveloper/jdev/bin/sqldeveloper.conf file and substitute the desired directory path for SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR in the following line:
```
SetUserHomeVariable SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR
```

If you want to prevent other users from accessing your user-specific SQL Developer information, you must ensure that the appropriate permissions are set on the directory where that information is stored or on a directory above it in the path hierarchy. For example, on a Windows system you may want to ensure that the sqldeveloper folder and the <user-name>\.sqldeveloper folder under Documents and Settings are not shareable; and on a Linux or Mac OS X system you may want to ensure that the ~/.sqldeveloper directory is not world-readable.