diff --git a/cms/envs/production.py b/cms/envs/production.py
index 401cca648d..d04dfcd8ac 100644
--- a/cms/envs/production.py
+++ b/cms/envs/production.py
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@ if STATIC_ROOT_BASE:
     WEBPACK_LOADER['DEFAULT']['STATS_FILE'] = STATIC_ROOT / "webpack-stats.json"
     WEBPACK_LOADER['WORKERS']['STATS_FILE'] = STATIC_ROOT / "webpack-worker-stats.json"
 
-EMAIL_FILE_PATH = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_FILE_PATH', None)
+DATA_DIR = path(ENV_TOKENS.get('DATA_DIR', DATA_DIR))
+EMAIL_FILE_PATH = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_FILE_PATH', DATA_DIR / "emails" / "studio")
 
 
 # CMS_BASE: Public domain name of Studio (should be resolvable from the end-user's browser)
@@ -188,7 +189,6 @@ ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
 ]
 
 LOG_DIR = ENV_TOKENS.get('LOG_DIR', LOG_DIR)
-DATA_DIR = path(ENV_TOKENS.get('DATA_DIR', DATA_DIR))
 
 CACHES = ENV_TOKENS.get('CACHES', CACHES)
 # Cache used for location mapping -- called many times with the same key/value
diff --git a/lms/envs/minimal.yml b/lms/envs/minimal.yml
index 0688b7c49c..4d5ccc7ec9 100644
--- a/lms/envs/minimal.yml
+++ b/lms/envs/minimal.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ MEDIA_ROOT: "/tmp/edx-platform/media/"
 
 # DATA_DIR is overridden twice in ./lms/envs/common.py  override it here temporarily until that's cleaned up and we
 # can default to something dev friendly and have overrides in production.py for production friendly settings.
-DATA_DIR: "/tmp/edx-platform/data_dir"
+DATA_DIR: "/tmp/edx-platform/data_dir/"
 
 # For just the CMS
 LMS_ROOT_URL: "http://localhost"
diff --git a/lms/envs/production.py b/lms/envs/production.py
index 48554b9d09..756fd8a241 100644
--- a/lms/envs/production.py
+++ b/lms/envs/production.py
@@ -146,8 +146,9 @@ REQUIRE_BUILD_PROFILE = ENV_TOKENS.get('REQUIRE_BUILD_PROFILE', REQUIRE_BUILD_PR
 PLATFORM_NAME = ENV_TOKENS.get('PLATFORM_NAME') or PLATFORM_NAME
 PLATFORM_DESCRIPTION = ENV_TOKENS.get('PLATFORM_DESCRIPTION') or PLATFORM_DESCRIPTION
 
+DATA_DIR = path(ENV_TOKENS.get('DATA_DIR', DATA_DIR))
 CC_MERCHANT_NAME = ENV_TOKENS.get('CC_MERCHANT_NAME', PLATFORM_NAME)
-EMAIL_FILE_PATH = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_FILE_PATH', None)
+EMAIL_FILE_PATH = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_FILE_PATH', DATA_DIR / "emails" / "lms")
 EMAIL_HOST = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_HOST', 'localhost')  # django default is localhost
 EMAIL_PORT = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_PORT', 25)  # django default is 25
 EMAIL_USE_TLS = ENV_TOKENS.get('EMAIL_USE_TLS', False)  # django default is False
@@ -317,7 +318,6 @@ for app in ENV_TOKENS.get('ADDL_INSTALLED_APPS', []):
 
 local_loglevel = ENV_TOKENS.get('LOCAL_LOGLEVEL', 'INFO')
 LOG_DIR = ENV_TOKENS.get('LOG_DIR', LOG_DIR)
-DATA_DIR = path(ENV_TOKENS.get('DATA_DIR', DATA_DIR))
 
 LOGGING = get_logger_config(LOG_DIR,
                             logging_env=ENV_TOKENS.get('LOGGING_ENV', LOGGING_ENV),