Adding a directory to tomcat classpath and read the property file in spring

I am trying to read the `test1.properties` file which is located at an external folder. here is my spring config file: ``` <bean id="propertyConfigurer3" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer"> <property name="ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders" value="true"/> <property name="locations"> <list> <value>classpath:test.properties</value> <value>classpath:test1.properties</value> </list> </property> </bean> ``` if I place the `test1.properties` in the `tomcat7/lib` folder, I am able to read it. However, I want to place it in a different directory as `tomcat7/env/test1.properties` I have added the path to the the `conf/catalina.properties`: ``` common.loader=${catalina.base}/lib,${catalina.base}/lib/*.jar,${catalina.home}/lib,${catalina.home}/lib/*.jar,${catalina.home}/env ``` This its not working, please help solution: Ok.. finally fixed it.. I had been doing it correctly this whole time.. it was my IDE which caused the problem. The IDE was not picking up the changes in the `catalina.properties` file. I had to delete the server config in my IDE and re configure it. these links were helpful in general: Adding a directory to tomcat classpath http://www.mulesoft.com/tomcat-classpath#solutions