4D provides a way to quickly reopen a recently opened database. A list of recently opened databases and connections to the server is saved and is displayed based on the most recent to least. The list can be viewed from either the Welcome Wizard window or the Open Recent Projects menu item.

With the Welcome Wizard, the most recent databases and connections to the server are displayed, and can be differentiated based on the icon to the left of the name.

The icon of two cables connecting is of a server connection and the icon of the folder is of a direct database. The Welcome Wizard also allows the path to the database or the address of the server connection to be displayed by hovering over the item in the list as a Help Tip.


The Open Recent Projects menu item displays another menu with two lists. The top list is of databases and the second list is of remote connections to a server. While, the items cannot be hovered over to show the path that the items will open, the lists are longer showing older connections that may not appear on the Welcome Wizard.

The list of recent items are maintained as .4DLink files in the favorites directory of the specific version.
MacOS:
/Users/{OS_UserName}/Library/Application Support/4D/Favorites v{4D_VersionNumber}

Win:
C:\Users\{OS_UserName}\AppData\Roaming\4D\Favorites v{4D_VersionNumber}

If a new version of 4D is installed, the recents list will not be imported. However, the list can be manually imported by copying the .4DLink files over to the new Favorites folder. Just be warned that once the database is upgraded it may no longer be able to be opened in the older version.

For example, if 4Dv19 is used. Then 4Dv20 is released and installed. To maintain the list of recent items, copy over the .4DLink files from the ...\Favorites v19\ directory to a new ...\Favorites v20\ directory.