Remove a recent file from my notifications tab

[DanLester]

I'm using Dropbox on Mac ElCapitan. I have the Dropbox icon on my menubar at top right. I click on that, look at Recent Files, and there's a file that I last used three or four months ago that was shared with me. It doesn't mean anything to me anymore. How do I make it go away?? When I log in to dropbox.com, and go to my files - shared and otherwise, that file doesn't appear. What's putting it under the Dropbox icon in my menubar??

[Walter]

Hey there @DanLester - Welcome to the Dropbox Forum!

First off, did you reboot your computer at all after getting this error? A screenshot of the problem would greatly help dig into this so if you don't mind please attach one showing what you described so I can provide you with more suggestions or tips.

In the meantime, as I think this could be related to your Finder not refreshing the window correctly, I would recommend that you follow these steps:

1. Save any files that you might have open and close any applications too.
2. Click on the Apple icon in the top left of your screen
3. Click on "force quit"
4. Relaunch the Finder.

Please let me know what you find and we'll take it from there Dan! Thank you in advance for your response. 

[Mark]

DanLester - at a guess all you actually need to do is click on the Dropbox icon and right click on it and select 'Dismiss'.

(Some older versions had it as 'Report as Spam').

If you do not get those options make sure you are using a newish version of Dropbox: www.dropbox.com/downloading

[DanLester]

OK, here's what it looks like (with some anonymization). This filename has been there for more than a month, and has endured computer reboots and Finder restarts. If I right-click on the filename, I'm not given any choices. "Dismiss"? Sounds nice, but it ain't there.

[Mark]

Thanks for the screen grab,

Sadly it isnt possible to clear that screen - it only works on the 'notifications' part. It will vanish as other files are added, changed or edited within your Dropbox. So that means, basically, you've edited or changed nothing at all in Dropbox in the past 7 weeks 🙂

Note: you definitely dont need to do what Walt3R suggested 🙂

[DanLester]

Yes, I only use Dropbox every month or so. But it strikes me as a little odd that long outdated stuff only disappears as you add new stuff. 7 weeks old doesn't make it a "Recent File".

[Walter]

Thanks for your quick update on this Dan! 

As this would require some account specific information would you mind if I reached out to you via email so we can look into this together with all of our tools available? If you'd prefer to do this from your end, you can log a ticket here and then track it here. 

Let me know how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there Dan. 

In the meantime, please give our offline installer a try too and let me know if this helped in your next reply. Last thing I would also try if I were in your shoes, would be to unlink and re-link your Mac computer to your Dropbox account as this would reset your configuration settings and might help resolve the visual issue you seem to be having.

Thanks!

[Mark · Accepted solution]

Walt - there is no need AT ALL for a ticket!

The issue is exactly as we've said. The last time a file was accessed was 7 weeks ago. That file is sitting in the Recents list. You cannot clear that list. It is, however, odd that it is still sitting there, but thats been an issue with this implementation since day 1 - you couldnt clear anything originally.

Everything is working exactly as it should be.

[DanLester]

Thank you. All is clear. It's a bit strange, but at least it's clear!

[Walter]

Hey @Mark true story - seems like I have jumped up the gun here. 

Apologies for this @DanLester - Mark is absolutely right in this case since as he mentioned, it isn't currently possible to clear items in the Recents list. We value user input immensely and are always looking to incorporate it into our products so I'll make sure that your comments about this are passed along to the dev team.

If there's anything else I can do to help, please let me know and apologies for my misunderstanding. 

[This thread is now closed. If you experience further issues, feel free to get back in touch on the Dropbox Community, we'd be glad to follow-up. ]