diff --git a/src/cristallina/utils.py b/src/cristallina/utils.py
index 03dbfc8..4d7b098 100644
--- a/src/cristallina/utils.py
+++ b/src/cristallina/utils.py
@@ -106,3 +106,35 @@ class ROI:
     
     def __repr__(self):
         return f"ROI(bottom={self.bottom}, top={self.top}, left={self.left}, right={self.right})"
+    
+######################## Setting up paths ########################
+
+def heuristic_extract_pgroup():
+    """ The function tries to guess the current p-group from the directory name."""
+    cwd = os.getcwd()
+    if "/p" in cwd:
+        # Cut the string and look at the next five letters after /p
+        p_number = cwd.partition("/p")[2][:5]
+
+        if not p_number.isdigit():
+            raise KeyError("Automatic p-group extraction from the current working directory didn't work.")
+    else:
+        raise KeyError("Automatic p-group extraction from the current working directory didn't work.")
+    return p_number    
+
+def heuristic_extract_base_path():
+    """ The function tries to guess the full path where the raw data is saved."""
+    p_number = heuristic_extract_pgroup()
+    base_path = f"/sf/cristallina/data/p{p_number}/raw/"
+    return base_path  
+
+def heuristic_extract_smalldata_path():
+    """ The function tries to guess the full path where the small data is saved."""
+    p_number = heuristic_extract_pgroup()
+    small_data_path = f"/das/work/units/cristallina/p{p_number}/smalldata/"
+    return small_data_path  
+
+    
+ 
+    
+    
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 0d5f020..af6d24b 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
+import os
 
-from cristallina.utils import ROI, print_run_info
+from cristallina.utils import ROI, print_run_info, heuristic_extract_pgroup
 
 __author__ = "Alexander Steppke"
 
@@ -19,3 +20,8 @@ def test_ROI():
 
     assert r.width == 1
     assert r.height == 2
+    
+    
+def test_extract_pgroup():
+    os.chdir("/sf/cristallina/data/p19739")
+    assert heuristic_extract_pgroup() == '19739'