diff --git a/jupyter-openbis-extension/connection.py b/jupyter-openbis-extension/connection.py
index d25658183b6c462fb743d421480f7d3a945328fb..0e2039d1cf7476920d754904c12afc301378560c 100644
--- a/jupyter-openbis-extension/connection.py
+++ b/jupyter-openbis-extension/connection.py
@@ -71,6 +71,12 @@ class OpenBISConnection:
 
 class OpenBISConnections(IPythonHandler):
 
+    def _notebook_dir(self):
+        notebook_dir = os.getcwd()
+        if 'notebook_dir' in self.config.NotebookApp:
+            notebook_dir = self.config.NotebookApp.notebook_dir
+        return notebook_dir
+
     def post(self):
         """create a new connection
 
@@ -98,7 +104,7 @@ class OpenBISConnections(IPythonHandler):
         self.write({
             'status'       : 200,
             'connections'  : connections,
-            'notebook_dir' : self.config.NotebookApp.notebook_dir
+            'notebook_dir' : self._notebook_dir()
         })
         return
 
@@ -107,6 +113,12 @@ class OpenBISConnectionHandler(IPythonHandler):
     """Handle the requests to /openbis/conn
     """
 
+    def _notebook_dir(self):
+        notebook_dir = os.getcwd()
+        if 'notebook_dir' in self.config.NotebookApp:
+            notebook_dir = self.config.NotebookApp.notebook_dir
+        return notebook_dir
+
     def put(self, connection_name):
         """reconnect to a current connection
         :return: an updated connection object
@@ -142,11 +154,10 @@ class OpenBISConnectionHandler(IPythonHandler):
                 "reason": "General Network Error"
             })
 
-
         self.write({
             'status'     : 200,
             'connection' : conn.get_info(),
-            ''        : self.config.NotebookApp.notebook_dir
+            ''           : self._notebook_dir()
         })
 
     def get(self, connection_name):
@@ -167,7 +178,8 @@ class OpenBISConnectionHandler(IPythonHandler):
         self.write({
             'status'        : 200,
             'connection'    : conn.get_info(),
-            'noteboook_dir' : self.config.NotebookApp.notebook_dir
+            'noteboook_dir' : self._notebook_dir()
         })
         return
 
+