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Forum Discussion
Swe T.
11 years agoNew member | Level 1
How to Clear or Remove the Recent file list in mobile apps
I want to clear all the Recent file list, there has no clear function please advise how to clear the list.
Thanks & regards
Swe Tin
- Hi everybody,We’d like to provide an update on this topic:Keep in mind that you can completely hide the Recents section with the new modular home layout on mobile:1. Open the Dropbox mobile app.2. Tap the customize icon (artist palette) 🎨3. To add or remove a default section, tap the toggle next to Recents, Starred, Camera Uploads, 4. Viewed links, Shared, or Offline.5. Tap Save to save your changes.You can find more info in here.Also, based on your comments, our team is working on improving the recents list update (when an item is deleted remotely). Thank you for sharing your feedback on this.We'll keep you in the loop for future features related to this.Sam
310 Replies
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Rich, I am sorry but the way you respond is like a lawyer representing dropbox, and not at al like a peer user.
Dropbox on android with all of it's obstacles is a showcase of poor design. And yes, unfortunately I will have to migrate me and my family away from dropbox as this company is going down the drain due to it's attitude..
Competition is from Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Box which are all more customer centric than dropbox.
And please look up 'official' in a dictionary first. Dropbox is not an authority nor public body. They are however world champion customer base ignoring.
- Rich10 years ago
Super User II
Dropbox is not an authority
They are over their own policies and procedures. Also:

Now let's please keep this thread on topic. If you're wish to further discuss the Recents feature that is fine, but anything else related to these forums, my function here or Dropbox's policies and procedures should be left to another thread or a support request. Thank you.
I would recommend to stick to the Oxford dictionary.
Anyway Rich, I would appreciate it if you stop behaving like a lawyer on behalf of Dropbox.
In Europe we don't appreciate people who pretend to be better because they consider themselves as reprentatives.
Dropbox has a serious issue with listening to customers.
It is sad if you consider yourself defender of that....
- Nathan J.910 years agoNew member | Level 1
Rich,
You are putting yourself ahead of the community by FIRST responding to William's email about the definition of "official" and only THEN declaring it to be off thread. If it was off thread and you care about the integrity of the thread then you should restrain from adding your last word to the thread before telling others to move on. You are baiting a response unnecessarily. His frustration with this feature is relevant to the community.
Specific UI decisions necessarily impact some users more than others. This forum gives users a chance to express these impacts in a way that can be influential to an engineering team's prioritization process. This is a feature that will cause some users to leave Dropbox and will leave others with a diminished value from the product. Dropbox is almost certainly monitoring these posts directly whether they weigh in or not. Knowing that some users are turned off by the feature is important but it is also important that Dropbox be aware that users would prefer that they comment from time to time about feature requests.
No they don't have to comment but William is right to post that it would be better for some users and much appreciated if they did. Dropbox isn't a nonprofit volunteering their time to cure world hunger. They are a technology company trying to sell a file storage product and a UI solution to interface with it. As such, their only connection to long term success and relevancy is to fully understand how the customers react to their product and to build a brand relationship base. William is giving good feedback which at least some others would agree with and are happy to see expressed on this thread.
- CRXed10 years agoNew member | Level 1
Rich: The forums are a community primarily for user to user support.
Then give some support instead of just defending yourself or the crappy Recent feature!
- Mark10 years ago
Super User II
However, ultimately, it is not possible to remove or hide or clear the list. As idiotic as that seems (and I am 100% behind you guys on that) this is as simple as it is I'm afraid :(
The only work around I have is it make sure when logging on you visit www.dropbox.com/home as that will bypass the recents page - even if you need to log in.
- Keith N.810 years agoNew member | Level 2
Well, time to call it a day - I've already moved most of my files to Google Drive, with the exception of a few shared folders that I need to leave on DB for now.
I'm fed up with receiving notifications that there are updates to this thread, when they almost all say the same thing: users are unhappy, and Rich is trying to defend the indefensible.
I'm unsubscribing from notifications, as it's clear that nothing is going to happen.
Bye.
- Haris K.210 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Ok, it's been months now. I appreaciat Dorpbox, and never, NEVER have I had problems or complained. The whole project is just very well, put together an expedited.
Up until today. I do have a complain now. I've wrote about it and got a typical answer (alway polite and all) and a client satisfaction form for the service. Didn't answer as nothing has bee improved. So many people seem to be arguing against it, yet nothing is done.
When I open my computer I see my files like they are on my desktop. When I open a folder I see all the files in them, like I've put them. Why on earth would I want to open my folder and see the last files I used ?! It's bluffing my brain really ? Aside from the fact that someone could be behind my back and glance my recently used files which could be private pictures or anything for that matter (pictures appear in small), I just dealt with those recent files, I'm moving on. If I've made a mistake it's my fault so I go back to the folder in question.
I understand some people maybe work this way. In which case it has to be an option, not beng 'recent files" by default !
This issue has been ongoin for around 6 months now, and I wonder how many more clicks I need to do EVERY SINGLE TIME from recent to go to files and choose the location I need to go to.
So please, lets go with some kind of change...
And one a note: I actually realised that for at least the past 6months, you take the times to close discussions, redirect people to this discussion, and yet nothing is done about the actuall issue. - Stefanie10 years ago
Dropbox Staff
Hi all,
Thanks very much for your contributions to this thread. I wanted to let you all know that we are monitoring this discussion very closely and your comments are being forwarded to our product, design and engineering teams. The decision makes are aware of the privacy and usability concerns you have about the Recents tab. We are currently in the process of doing a product review and designing the next version of Recents. Your feedback is being taken into account for this. While I cannot make any official promises or share any updates of our roadmap yet, I did want to at least give an update here.
We will keep you in the loop about the developments. While this forum is mainly moderated by users and super users (thank you Mark and Rich for your contributions!), Dropboxers from all departments are also keeping an eye on it. So please do keep the feedback coming!
- Haris K.210 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Thank you Sofia,
This is very appreaciated.
Good day all...
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Then give some support instead of just defending yourself or the crappy Recent feature!
Unfortunately I'm sure most people here know my opinions on the shambolic implementation of Recents across Dropbox. I've told anybody I can find in person or online exactly what I feel of it and why its (in my opinion) down right dangerous.