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How to Clear or Remove the Recent file list in mobile apps

How to Clear or Remove the Recent file list in mobile apps

Swe T.
New member | Level 1
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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

310 Replies 310

Daniel O.12
New member | Level 1
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Hmm.  So two observations: this issue has been discussed for more than a year (here and other threads) and Dropbox has not made any useful changes to avoid the recents privacy violations; on IOS, the app reopens the last index page that was open - if that was "files" that's the page it reopens. But if you add a document does it go back to recents?

Until Dropbox decides what and how to alter the recents index - and for all you folks wanting "options" that is a really big deal since there are no options at present for anything - I would appreciate it if Dropbox just automatically opened to a blue screen allowing me to select which index page I want from the list along the bottom of the screen. Perhaps later you could list those available index pages on the blue screen (as well as along the bottom of the screen).  This should not be difficult to do (it does not change any feature of the app) and maybe can be changed rather quickly.

Why?  Well because today I opened Dropbox on my phone to show a friend a pdf just added to dropbox (on a Mac) an hour before, and the app opened to index page "recents" and there were photos there that may have offended him.  This is very, very bad.  Whoever implemented this foolish "improvement" should be sent for re-education, because it displays a stunning lack of thoughtfulness (not to mention forethought and consideration of potential consequences) at a time when everyone is more conscious of their privacy. To put it another way, those pictures of you at the Dore Alley Fair - in Dropbox so you can show your friends - should probably not be seen by your sister's kids, and yet, there they are right next to the kid friendly document you wanted to show them. Sorry. Let me repeat: Very Bad.

Thinking about who may be affected, I can't help but note that attorneys (including me), medical professionals, law enforcement, and anyone subject to privacy considerations (not to mention kids) would have to think twice about Dropbox as a solution. The potential of inadvertently "sharing" a document or a photo or even the existence of a document is just too dangerous.

Now I am not a paying member of the dropbox community - I use the free version - so I have no right to demand anything.  But, I beg you to change this situation as soon as you can. Making users click once more to see the recents index seems insignificant compared to the alternative. Note, I like the recents index; I just cannot have the app open to that page when launched.

Otherwise Dropbox works great for me. That pdf was there for me to show my friend, it just was keeping unfortunate company on the recents page; it would have been fine on the files page.

Thanks.

steve t.5
Collaborator | Level 9
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Well, this is interesting. I just found this forum while searching for.a way to turn off the "recents" feature. Apparently this problem goes back almost a full year, and apparently DropBox doesn't give a damn about fixing it. 

Ever heard of "customer service"??

Bliss G.
Helpful | Level 6
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Frankly, I'd just like a response.  I mean if they're not going to implement it ever, then at least let us know that.

Simon C.26
New member | Level 1
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I was a pro Dropbox user for a long time. I've switched to Onedrive now, because of this thread.

Tarjei U.
New member | Level 1
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Could maybe somene tweet at @dropbox? Maybe a social media question might give them some traction? I tried tweeting, but I am having som issues now. I will retweet if someone does tweet though.

Albert G.6
New member | Level 1
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Tarjei, this is all a total waste of time. This topic has been open now for over a year. Absolutely no-one at Dropbox has taken any notice - this for something absolutely trivial to fix. All people here have been asking for an OPTION to DISABLE the display of the RECENT FILE LIST. Not to remove the list, not to remove it by default. Just give us a knob we could set so it does not get displayed. Zero risk to existing customers. Trivial to implement.

Since this is a community forum run by and operated by Dropbox, our collective conclusion is that  (1) either no-one at Dropbox bothers reading what we say or (2) someone does read us, but they just don't care.

I suspect you can tweet as much as you can but will not get any answer at all.

Bliss G.
Helpful | Level 6
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@Simon C:  How do you like onedrive compared to dropbox?  Same features?  More or less features?  I guess I mostly like the ease of use/instant links.  Does onedrive have that?  Cuz I'm considering switching myself.  This is completely unprofessional of Dropbox. 

'- -.4
Helpful | Level 6
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It is almost as easy to create external links in OneDrive, but you do to go to the website.

However, everyone is mad at OneDrive for reducing their free space from 15 GB to 5 GB.

Meanwhile, in Android, when I open Dropbox, it does not open Recent, so happy about that.

Kurt L.5
New member | Level 1
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Like everybody else I got to this thread when the RECENTS iOS version annoyed me.

For starters it doesn't really need to be there. I'll go to the file I need, recent or not.

The fact that there is no SETTINGS option is just a bad dropbox decision.

Didn't realize so many people are as upset as I am and kept checking with every iOS update if it was changed.

One year and no action means : GOTTA GO and check out what is better.

DP was my go to app and I sang the praises to everybody.

My $ 99 a year will go to somebody else when the next renewal is up..

 

 

Bliss G.
Helpful | Level 6
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@Kurt L.

Please let us know what you find.  I'll be interested to give my money to someone else as well! 

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