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Bug 305325 - request to add option to disable 'Recent Documents' lists.
request to add option to disable 'Recent Documents' lists.
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-panel
Classification: Other
Component: general
unspecified
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: Panel Maintainers
Panel Maintainers
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2005-05-24 13:46 UTC by Sebastien Bacher
Modified: 2020-11-06 20:26 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.9/2.10



Description Sebastien Bacher 2005-05-24 13:46:36 UTC
This bug has been opened here: https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/2223

"In addition to the ability to list recent documents (Computer->Recent
Documents) and the option to clear the list are both nice, there should also be
an option to disable such behavior completely.
...
(In reply to comment #0)

I agree.  A list of recent documents might be of use for some people, but not
for me.  All recent documents  does is report my recent activities to any other
person who may use my computer.  It is annoying that I have to clear it all the
time.  So I hope that the recent documents option can be enabled and disabled in
the future."
Comment 1 Emmanuele Bassi (:ebassi) 2005-07-22 10:35:34 UTC
This belong to gnome-panel, not to recent-files.

Hint: we could add a GConf key handling the Recent Documents menu item's visibility.
Comment 2 Vincent Untz 2005-08-18 16:38:25 UTC
From bug 115764:

I think this could be solved as bug #305325 by adding a pair of keys in
/apps/panel/global:

/apps/panel/global/disable_recent_documents (bool:false)
/apps/panel/global/recent_documents_size (int:10)

both recent-files and recentchooser enable a limit on the returned list of
recently used files, but it's really up to their user to decide.
Comment 3 James Read 2006-08-07 17:07:43 UTC
I request that this 'bug' (feature) be added. Could somebody take another look?
Comment 4 bioman 2007-05-19 03:23:33 UTC
/apps/panel/global/disable_recent_documents (bool:false)
/apps/panel/global/recent_documents_size (int:10)

Seem to not work or not implemented ?
It would be appreciate to add this feature.

regards,

bilizekid
Comment 5 Vincent Untz 2007-05-19 09:51:42 UTC
(In reply to comment #4)
> /apps/panel/global/disable_recent_documents (bool:false)
> /apps/panel/global/recent_documents_size (int:10)
> 
> Seem to not work or not implemented ?

Not implemented.
Comment 6 shishz 2007-06-09 02:46:00 UTC
If this is ever implemented, when disabled, "Recent Documents" should disappear from the Places menu rather than being grayed out.
Comment 7 Mike Rooney 2008-04-21 16:28:12 UTC
> /apps/panel/global/disable_recent_documents (bool:false)
> /apps/panel/global/recent_documents_size (int:10)

I think this is a great way to solve the issue and allow for a user choice regarding the number of recent documents as well.

The current solution of making the recently-used file immutable is not very great as it spews error output when running anything from the terminal that attempts to modify it. If you are trying to debug said application, or obtain useful terminal output, this makes it rather impossible. Also, the menu item is still there taking up space; ideally with this fixed, when the recent documents are disabled, the item will disappear and simplify the menus.

Okay, thanks for the great work so far, I can't wait to see this solved!
Comment 8 naja 2008-05-13 21:29:46 UTC
Nooo!

Please don't hide features like that...

Hide != Disable

On the shallow side a lot of people are most bothered by it being visible, but in the end it comes down to a computer tracking your behaviour without your consent. The last thing to do is to keep tracking but make it invisible to the user.

Personally I would disable features like that by default, if they prove valuable enough to be implemented at all.
Comment 9 bri 2008-06-10 23:57:31 UTC
I too would like it disabled and not viewable.

Thanks
Comment 10 Daniele C. 2008-12-12 21:00:35 UTC
I have just switched from GNOME to XFCE on my Ubuntu because of this bug.

Hope to see it implemented soon
Comment 11 Dan Ziemba 2009-03-10 00:26:28 UTC
I find it very disappointing that it has been almost four years since this bug was opened and the recent documents menu can still only be disabled by a crude hack.  Is there any chance that this will ever get implemented?
Comment 12 Fermulator 2009-05-06 22:10:05 UTC
I also believe this should be implemented.

 1. This behaviour should be enabled by default.  The "common" user likes to be able to see their recently opened documents.  Also, by having it enabled by default, it shows those people that don't like it that A) they don't like it, and B) they'll figure out how to turn it off.  If it wasn't enabled by default, users wouldn't know it existed in the first place.

 2. When set as "disabled" (via gconf-editor or otherwise), indeed, the system SHOULD NOT continue to track the information but hide the icon.

+1 from me
Comment 13 Thomas Spura 2009-06-28 12:47:44 UTC
This is already implemented in gtk.

Add "gtk-recent-files-max-age=0" to your ~/.gtkrc-2.0.

'Something to click' is just missing ;-)

See:
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk/2.15/GtkSettings.html#GtkSettings--gtk-recent-files-max-age
Comment 14 Jose Tomas Eterovic 2009-12-11 01:24:14 UTC
Is anyone taking care of this bug?

I'm starting as Gnome developer and want to take a look into this
Comment 15 komputes 2009-12-20 03:09:04 UTC
A workaround is available here:

http://unsharptech.com/2008/08/08/disable-recent-documents-in-gnome-2223/

Basically three commands:
$ rm ~/.recently-used.xbel
$ mkdir ~/.recently-used.xbel
$ rm ~/.recently-used

This bug has been opened for 5 years and nobody has created a gconf option to disable such behavior. Jose, please look into this request. Thank you.
Comment 16 Savvas Radević 2010-04-17 15:44:46 UTC
The description should be updated. The launchpad bug is at:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/30942
Comment 17 Brian J. Murrell 2010-10-12 11:54:57 UTC
5 years and counting on this bug.  Surely this is low-hanging fruit, no?

I don't want to disable but rather I want to increase both the max age and max items.
Comment 18 Jendrik Seipp 2011-05-06 11:24:52 UTC
Any news on this? How can I disable the creation of the .recently-used.xbel file?
Comment 19 Ben Bucksch 2011-11-07 18:57:21 UTC
Recording personal use information must always be possible to disable with an obvious GUI click. Firefox has a privacy mode, and settings which allow me to say not to store history.

Apart from that, the implementation is hideous. Dropping dozens or hundreds of files directly in my home dir is not acceptable, period. Put it in a subdir.

Please fix this.
Comment 20 Ben Bucksch 2011-11-07 18:57:57 UTC
Various workarounds:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-91154.html
Comment 21 kxra 2012-03-28 16:05:53 UTC
Users shouldn't have to resort to that. It's an issue of privacy
Comment 22 T.J.Pinkert 2012-03-31 14:53:09 UTC
Disable in my opinion means:
1. it does not do it's work anymore. This would mean that no information is added
   to the recently used list.
2. The Gui greys it out.

At this moment, the Gui does grey out the thing in places, but keeps going there in the file selector dialogs. This is in my opinion a no-go if the feature is disabled.

About the displaying there are two things you could say:
1. disabled means still visible somewhere.
2. disabled means invisible.

Most programs implement disabled properties as greyed-out items to show the user that the property should somehow be accessable if wanted (if it is not obvious, the user should be able to find it in the manual).

I would like to not see the thing when it is disabled (it only takes place on the screen which could be used otherwise) The above logically this would than mean that an option to make the "recently used files" invisible should be implemented.

In case of this feature, disabled and invisible are almost equivalent so in the end I would say that the two can be merged (maybe the fact that disabeling would mean that the display items are made invisible can be part of the comment in the options dialogs.)
Comment 23 André Klapper 2020-11-06 20:26:38 UTC
bugzilla.gnome.org is being replaced by gitlab.gnome.org. We are closing all old bug reports in Bugzilla which have not seen updates for many years.

If you can still reproduce this issue in a currently supported version of GNOME (currently that would be 3.38), then please feel free to report it at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-panel/-/issues/

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry it could not be fixed.