A bit more information:
It seems to be a permissions problem.
The problem only seems to exist on my user account on the mac.
I have two admin users set up on my computer, and I installed R Studio using my admin account. I've tried it in the applications folder and also in the applications folder for just my account.
I have gone through all the files associated with R Studio and made sure that I have writing permission..
But still every time I uninstall and reinstall, using a third party program that is supposed to wipe all files, the app comes back with a memory of all my recently opened files.. So there is some hidden files on my computer that I don't seem to be able to delete and replace.
Does anyone know exactly where the preferences are saved on a mac? I could look at that specific file and see if the permissions are OK.
If someone could please help - this is driving me absolutely insane