How to set working directory pemanently in Spyder & RStudio?

To set working directory permanently in: 1. Spyder IDE: Tools > Prefeences > Current working directory > the following directory 2. RStudio IDE: Tools > Global Options... > General > Default working directory (when not in a project)

PS: Yes, we need to restart the application in both IDEs to take changes in effect.

In Spyder (since version 3.2) you need to go to

Tools > Preferences > Current working directory

and select the option called

the following directory