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"Clear History" button for "Recents".

"Clear History" button for "Recents".

JSD2K
New member | Level 2

Some people deal with confidential files and use Dropbox for these. It would be very useful to allow people the option to clear their "Recent" files at will to allow more privacy and discretion. 

Latest Update
Megan
Dropbox Staff

This idea has been closed due to inactivity and can no longer be voted for.

 

If you have a similar idea please share it with us here.

Status changed to: Closed
49 Comments
Sharky
Explorer | Level 4

It's so, so much better on mobile where you can assign a passcode or in the case of the iPhone, fingerprint security, to even Open the Dropbox App. So, they obviously think that someone being able to access a user's files without their permission is an important security risk.

 

Why would they just blatantly display your recent or most commonly used files on a desktop or latptop computer, where you can't even put a passcode on Dropbox, and give you no option to disable it? Basically, if I get up from my comptuer without locking it out, and someone happens by and opens up Dropbox, they can see what files I've been working on; often sensitive information. Windows has the ability to turn off tracking recent files/folders, so does almost every other program.

 

If you're going to include the recent or common files/folders feature without a way to turn it off, you need to add the ability to require a passcode to access Dropbox just like on mobile.

AlbertoVillar
Explorer | Level 4

@Sharki, I agree but, for me, the issue goes beyond access and pass codes. Again for me, the fact that I open my Dropbox account from my laptop during a meeting at customer site, gives third-party people a chance to see what have I been dealing with. For example, Customer X may not care about others' documents (say Customer Y), but they will know that those other companies might see theirs in any other meeting.

Dropbox's developers must give us the option to remove or hide recent files from our dashboards.

Jake H.3
New member | Level 2

I'd also love the ability to manage this at the file level. I know the ones I wouldn't like to see in the recents section and the ones that I don't mind seeing there. It would be amazing if I could set up a file as being excluded from inclusion in the feature. Then I wouldn't have to constantly go through and manually remove stuff. 

 

Thanks,

Jake

bigstu_
Explorer | Level 3

Hi, still unable to clear the list of recent items on the web UI. Still want this feature. Clicking the 'Hide' button doesn't cut it. Still creepy. Please add this feature. Thanks!

_Marvin_
New member | Level 2

Walter, 

This feature is oxymornig, it is useless. 

I am specifically talking about the iOS or mobile app.

You have to go into account > settings and then select "Hide Recent"

 

But then you go to Recent tab and it says: "Recent items Hidden" and below it "Click here to unhind"

 

WHAT is the use of this. Why would I want to hide files and then give people the key to unhide it in the same place where the files used to be!  Not only is it completely useless, it is dumb because it grabs a users attention! You might as well drop a line that says:


"Hey someone doesn't want you to see their recently viewed files! Wanna check what they're hiding ? Click here to unhide"

 

I find this to be a design mockery ! 

 

Thank you.  

 

 

Jeremy M.10
Helpful | Level 5

Yeah, "recent items" in all it's incarnations is both useless and is a potential privacy leak.  At least Windows allows you to turn off recent items and delete that history.  Unfortunately all the major cloud systems seem to have this "persistent recent items" crap, or they did the last time I looked into it.  Extremely frustrating because it *cannot* be that hard to wipe the history or to simply not record it in the first place.

 

-J

rossis
Explorer | Level 4

It's truly amazing that this hasn't been implemented yet. This is such a basic toggle feature that it could be implemented in a day.

Atarian
Helpful | Level 5

@Jeremy M.10 wrote:

At least Windows allows you to turn off recent items and delete that history. 


Are you saying that you can turn off recent items in Dropbox for Windows? I can't find the option anywhere. It's been driving me crazy for years.

Mike S.25
Helpful | Level 6
Why can’t you program so we have the option to clear our recents file with out deleting the file
2fen
Helpful | Level 5

I can only think that Dropbox staff are being very dense about this. This feature has been recommended over and over and over again since at least 2015. All you have to do is search for "recents" or "hide" and then take a moment to look through: what's happening is that for over five years now, with frustration mounting to righteous rage, many many users have asked for you to introduce a "clear" function, or the ability to disable the "recents" function. People introduce it as if it were a new thread, so you "only" see 25 votes in this particular thread. But are you checking to see how many threads have been started on this same topic? Have you noticed the extremity of people's feelings about having their confidential files no further from everyone's eyes than the enticing "unhide" button on the first page?

   Instead of waiting for 10,000 people to SCREAM about this or quit Dropbox, why not just think for a moment? In professional presentations, I frequently need to bring up material from my Dropbox. But it's not safe to do that without a ridiculous workaround: I must always DISABLE the projector until I have safely gotten past that accursed "Recents" display and into the folders from which I want to show this or that document.

   The final absurdity came today, when I implemented your "Vault" feature, a long overdue feature. Unfortunately, since it creates a file called "VAULT" in the top menu, when I project from my computer everyone's attention will go to the fact that I have "something to hide." Isn't Dropbox trying to accommodate genuine working professionals at all? But it gets worse. After sealing the vault, I clicked back to the home screen, and lo and behold, a whole list of supposedly locked files are STILL listed one by one, with titles on display, in the "Recents" list. What's the point of a vault made of glass when the point is for people not even to see that you have protected documents? The Dropbox team really did not have their thinking caps all the way on, and again, at least since 2015 this request has come to you under a dozen headings. How hard could it be? Sheesh.

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56 votes received Status: Closed