use `ivy' to open recent directories. it is integrated with `dired-do-copy' and `dired-do-rename'. when you press C (copy) or R (rename) , it is excellent to allow users to select a directory from the recent dired history . ; Installation: (require 'savehist) (add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables 'ivy-dired-history-variable) (savehist-mode 1) or if you use desktop-save-mode (add-to-list 'desktop-globals-to-save 'ivy-dired-history-variable) (with-eval-after-load 'dired (require 'ivy-dired-history) ;; if you are using ido,you'd better disable ido for dired ;; (define-key (cdr ido-minor-mode-map-entry) [remap dired] nil) ;in ido-setup-hook (define-key dired-mode-map "," 'dired))