7 Setting up a project

An R project is a directory that contains all the contents, scripts, and resources that are related to a specific project. R projects enable us to group our work into self-contained folders, which is particularly useful if we have context-specific analyses that we wish to keep distinct.

The most beneficial aspect of creating an R Project is that the working directory is the project’s roots folder - this allows us to keep track of all the files that are pertinent to a specific project and easily read files from the working directory. It also allows us the ability to preserve our workspace between sessions.

When a project is created, RStudio will create a new R session for the project. It will allow create the following files:

An .Rproj file in the project’s main directory, which contains the same working directory, R session, and command history. Previous edited documents and files are restored in editor tabs, as well.
An .Rhistory file in the project’s main directory, which contains the command history from your session that is loaded into the R Project
An .Rdata file in the project’s main directory, which contains the data and changes from your sessions to be loaded in the R Project

7.1 Creating a new R Project in RStudio

Open RStudio and go to the File menu and select New Project.
In the New Project window, choose New Directory. Then, choose New Project. Name your new directory and then “Create the project as subdirectory of” and select a folder on your computer (preferably your folder where you will store all of your R Projects). Click on Create Project.
After your project is completed, if the project does not automatically open in RStudio, then go to the File menu, select Open Project, and choose the file with the extension .Rproj.
When RStudio opens, you will see three panels in the window. Verify your working directory now that we have our Project set up using getwd().

Note: If your RStudio is already opened from an existing project, you may want to check the Open in a new session checkbox to open the project in a new session.