diff --git a/fitnesstrax/app/src/main.rs b/fitnesstrax/app/src/main.rs
index a3111a7..1eb412e 100644
--- a/fitnesstrax/app/src/main.rs
+++ b/fitnesstrax/app/src/main.rs
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ use gtk::{subclass::prelude::*, STYLE_PROVIDER_PRIORITY_USER};
 use std::{
     cell::RefCell,
     env,
-    path::PathBuf,
+    path::{Path, PathBuf},
     rc::Rc,
     sync::{Arc, RwLock},
 };
@@ -47,14 +47,32 @@ enum Events {
 /// The real, headless application. This is where all of the logic will reside.
 #[derive(Clone)]
 struct App {
+    settings: gio::Settings,
     database: Arc<RwLock<Option<Series<TraxRecord>>>>,
 }
 
 impl App {
-    pub fn new() -> Self {
-        Self {
+    pub fn new(settings: gio::Settings) -> Self {
+        let s = Self {
+            settings,
             database: Arc::new(RwLock::new(None)),
+        };
+
+        if !s.settings.string("series-path").is_empty() {
+            let path = PathBuf::from(s.settings.string("series-path"));
+            let db = Series::open(path).unwrap();
+            *s.database.write().unwrap() = Some(db);
         }
+
+        s
+    }
+
+    pub fn open_db(&self, path: &Path) {
+        let db = Series::open(path).unwrap();
+        *self.database.write().unwrap() = Some(db);
+        self.settings
+            .set_string("series-path", path.to_str().unwrap())
+            .unwrap();
     }
 }
 
@@ -277,38 +295,8 @@ impl AppWindow {
                     //
                     // If the file does not exist, create a new one. Again, show the user an error if
                     // some kind of error occurs.
-                    if path.exists() {
-                        let db = Series::open(&path);
-                        match db {
-                            Ok(db) => {
-                                *app.database.write().unwrap() = Some(db);
-                                s.change_view(HistoricalView::new().upcast());
-                            }
-                            Err(EmseriesReadError::UUIDParseError(_)) => {
-                                println!("Invalid UUID detected in the file")
-                            }
-                            Err(EmseriesReadError::JSONParseError(_)) => {
-                                println!("The file cannot be parsed and may not be a database")
-                            }
-                            Err(EmseriesReadError::IOError(err)) => {
-                                println!("The file cannot be read: {}", err)
-                            }
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        let db = Series::open(&path);
-                        match db {
-                            Ok(db) => {
-                                *app.database.write().unwrap() = Some(db);
-                                s.change_view(HistoricalView::new().upcast());
-                            }
-                            Err(EmseriesReadError::IOError(err)) => {
-                                println!("The file cannot be read: {}", err)
-                            }
-                            _ => unreachable!(
-                                "other error types should not be possible when creating a new DB"
-                            ),
-                        }
-                    }
+                    app.open_db(&path);
+                    s.change_view(HistoricalView::new().upcast());
                 })
             })
             .upcast()
@@ -352,7 +340,7 @@ fn main() {
 
     println!("database path: {}", settings.string("series-path"));
 
-    let app = App::new();
+    let app = App::new(settings);
 
     /*
     let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()