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Asked: 2013-05-14 08:23:59 +0800 CST

How to disable "recent files" folder in Nautilus?

  • 772

When I turn off " record activity" in the privacy settings, my activities are still recorded in the "recent files" folder (even when I am using a truecrypt volume).

I haven't figured out a PERMANENT solution to this problem. It sucks to delete history via terminal manually and what happens if I forget?

nautilus

9 Answers

  1. The method with editing ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini doesn't work with Nautilus 3.8. But there is better and simpler way. Simply open dconf-editor, navigate to org->gnome->desktop->privacy and uncheck the remember-recent-files key. That takes care of it, once for all!

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  2. Disable the Nautilus Recent Files list

    To permanently disable any recent files from showing up in the Nautilus Recent sidebar item, open the ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini file with a text editor:

    gedit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

    and under "[Settings]", add the following lines:

    gtk-recent-files-max-age=0
gtk-recent-files-limit=0

    If this file does not exist, create it. Make sure the header says "[Settings]" and not "Settings". This is how the file should look after editing it:

    [Settings]
gtk-recent-files-max-age=0
gtk-recent-files-limit=0

    (there can be other items below these, of course).

    To apply the changes, log out and log back in.

    Copied from Webupd8 exercising (cc) BY-NC-SA WebUpd8 : Nautilus 3.6: How To Clear The Recent Files List (Or Disable It)

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  3. In 14.04 go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Files & Applications and check "off" Record file and application usage.

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  4. Using the terminal:

    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.privacy remember-recent-files false
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  5. If you're using Ubuntu 17.10 and above (or Ubuntu GNOME) then:

    • Open Settings

    • Open the Privacy Tab enter image description here

    • Click Usage & History and disable the "Recently Used" label enter image description here

    • 6

  6. You have 4 options (AFIK)

    1. Use the guest account. The guest account is confined by apparmor and the session is wiped when you log out.

    2. Each user should have a separate account.

    3. Write a script to clear your private data.

    4. use bleachbit.

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  7. Starting with GTK 3.8 (Ubuntu 13.10 and later) you can just use the following setting in
    ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini to disable the "Recent files" feature completely:

    [Settings]
gtk-recent-files-enabled = 0
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  8. As the settings.ini method didn't work for me on Ubuntu 13.04, here is a workaround that should be pretty reliable:

    $ rm ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel # clear current file history
$ touch ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel # create a 0-byte history file
$ sudo chattr +i ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel # make it readonly
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  9. Simply open dconf-editor, navigate to org->gnome->(filemanager e.g. nemo for me)->privacy and uncheck the remember-recent-files key. That takes care of it, once for all!

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