How to clear recently used files without using a terminal?

Question

How can I clear the recently used and viewed files without using terminal?

What's wrong with the terminal? You can always create a graphical shortcut for a terminal command. — Adam Byrtek, Apr 11 '11 at 21:29
Well we linux fans wouldn't mind...but new users migrating from other OS might prefer a GUI method to clear recently viewed files. — nik90, Apr 11 '11 at 21:30
on ubuntu 10.10 you have an option in the menu for that. i think it is faster and easier to use via gui — Pascal, Apr 11 '11 at 21:35

score 23 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 17 '11 at 12:53

It depends on whether you're using Unity or the Classic desktop.

In Unity, the recent documents that you see in the Files lens are logged using Zeitgeist. If you don't want to use the terminal to remove these, or only want to remove a few of them, the best thing to do is install "Activity Journal" using the Software Center. Fire up the Activity Journal, and you'll see all your recently used apps and documents, grouped by day. If you right click a document and click "Delete item from Journal", Zeitgeist will forget that you used that document at that specific time. If you click "Delete all items with this URL", Zeitgeist will forget you ever used that document. If you want to delete everything, this terminal command (which others have already posted) will do the job:

rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

There's a Zeitgeist Global Privacy app in development which will make this easier, but unfortunately it's not released yet.

The Classic desktop (and the lists of recently used files in most applications' File menus) stores a record of your recently used documents in ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel. You can just delete this file using the file manager or copy and paste the following code into a terminal:

rm ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

Hope that helps!

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '11 at 00:04

7

The only way I know how to do this is to install Ubuntu Tweak, which can be found by going to http://ubuntu-tweak.com/ and installing the software.

Open Ubuntu Tweak up and go to Gnome Settings then uncheck Enable System Wide "Recent Documents" List

answered Apr 12 '11 at 00:04

scouser73

4,334

thanks for the answer. i tried to install ubuntu tweaks a few days ago but it requires python <2.7 and 2.7.1 is part of natty. so i have to wait for an update – Pascal Apr 12 '11 at 07:21
https://launchpad.net/~tualatrix/+archive/ppa is the Ubuntu Tweak PPA which will install for you without any unmet dependency problems happening. – scouser73 Apr 14 '11 at 16:59
This solution no longer works. I'm on Classic desktop and unticked the option as I usually did after a fresh install, but recent documents keeps accumulating. – Oxwivi May 14 '11 at 05:35

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:42

5

Upgrade to 12.04. It comes with a cleaner and settings wizard by default.

Under System Settings click Privacy, there is an option to clear the recent history.

edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:42

Byte Commander

107,489

answered Apr 28 '12 at 03:01

Curious Apprentice

3,437

Clarify your answer with screenshots – Tachyons Apr 28 '12 at 03:22

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:41

5

You can use bleachbit from its homepage on SourceForge or install it through the Software Center.

It can delete all unnecessary files, and system cache.

Open BleachBit and then check your preferences:
for deleting recent documents, only select System→recent documents

edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:41

Byte Commander

107,489

answered Dec 15 '11 at 03:17

paru38

684

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:42

2

Run the following commands in your terminal:

rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

edited Dec 24 '16 at 19:42

Byte Commander

107,489

answered Apr 29 '11 at 11:15

huache

45

2

The question says without using terminal – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Dec 24 '16 at 18:15

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

A while ago, I've developed a recent files indicator for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which was meant as personal project although I've used it to answer couple other questions here on Ask Ubuntu, particularly here and here. Among other features, it has an option to clear recently used files.

Obtaining the indicator is fairly simple:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:1047481448-2/sergkolo
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install files-indicator

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 24 '16 at 18:28

2

In Ubuntu 16.04's Nautilus click on "Recent" in left pane and this screen appears:

Highlight the files you want removed from the Recent list and use right click to bring up the context menu. Then select Remove from Recent.

answered Dec 24 '16 at 18:28

WinEunuuchs2Unix

102,282

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Jan 24 '12 at 20:45

This is what works for me, DISABLING ALL LOGGING.

Copy these three lines to a blank text file:

CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS no_logging_uri AFTER INSERT ON uri BEGIN DELETE FROM uri ;  END;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS no_logging_event AFTER INSERT ON event BEGIN DELETE FROM event ;  END;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS no_logging_text AFTER INSERT ON text BEGIN DELETE FROM text ;  END;

Let's suppose you named the file as triggers.sql. The next thing to do is apply these triggers on the activity database:

$ cat triggers.sql | sqlite3 ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite

If you want to restore the standard functionality simply remove the database (it will be recreated without the triggers):

$ rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite

Sorry for missing the part "without using the terminal" :) – dschulz Jan 24 '12 at 18:31 — dschulz, Jan 24 '12 at 18:31

score -2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 28 '12 at 06:42

remove all children of xml file ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xbel version="1.0"
      xmlns:bookmark="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/desktop-bookmarks"
      xmlns:mime="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"
/>

and

$ sudo chattr +i ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

to make it immutable. drop all event item in sqlite3 database and also make it immutable.

$ sqlite3 ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
sqlite> delete from event;
$ sudo chattr +i ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite

How to clear recently used files without using a terminal?

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