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Forum Discussion
How to Clear or Remove the Recent file list in mobile apps
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
I am glad I am not the only one in need of this functionality. For the love of all that is Good and Holy, please make it happen on both the mobile app and especially the windows desktop version too. I cannot believe that I am considering moving to Google Drive because of that minor feature that causes so many privacy issues!
- Mariedb - Dropboxer wrote in 2015:I understand your concern. The files that appear in your Dropbox are files that are anyway stored in your account and we only surface the ones that have been recently modified by yourself.
OutSideTheBox "Just what are you taking pictures" Private personal pictures that WE want to remain private. I have clients that I open my dropbox on their computer. I do not want private photo's to pop up just because I logged in. Nor do I want pictures of my neice and nephew popping up on a strangers computer. It's none of their business. Good grief - what part of this dont you understand. They are my photos and I don't want to share them with anyone. PERIOD! Ignorant a** - Flame-out!
62,096 Views, 308 Comments and 408 Votes. Sounds like a consensice not the "time to lock up this discussion" as OutSideTheBox suggests. Truth is, DB is using our "recent activity" to share with 3rd parties and grow their business. And here is the unbelievable part of it, we pay them to do so.
- Sam DBX
Community Manager
Another disappointed user here wanting either to disable this feature, or not parse any particular folders of our liking (and any uploading to/from them as well) or at the very least make it NOT the default view when starting up Dropbox. Serious privacy issue as I have it installed on multiple devices.
Wow! Definitely had more confidence in this product! Just reviewing this thread I can see an inovative and interesting piece of fluff added to the app now puts the entire tool at risk. I believe your customers are due a better answer than the disapointing rhetoric above.
Agree with others, clear recent is needed. Imagine not being able to clear your browser history? As an end user it is annoying to see customers being ignored. As a developer, I can't understand what could be so difficult about it.
Not renewing and not looking back either, my prime offers unlimited photo storage anyway.
- Mark
Super User II
However, ultimately, it is not possible to remove or hide or clear the list. As idiotic as that seems (and I am 100% behind you guys on that) this is as simple as it is I'm afraid :(
The only work around I have is it make sure when logging on you visit www.dropbox.com/home as that will bypass the recents page - even if you need to log in.
StefanieDropbox Staff
Hi all,
Thanks very much for your contributions to this thread. I wanted to let you all know that we are monitoring this discussion very closely and your comments are being forwarded to our product, design and engineering teams. The decision makes are aware of the privacy and usability concerns you have about the Recents tab. We are currently in the process of doing a product review and designing the next version of Recents. Your feedback is being taken into account for this. While I cannot make any official promises or share any updates of our roadmap yet, I did want to at least give an update here.
We will keep you in the loop about the developments. While this forum is mainly moderated by users and super users (thank you Mark and Rich for your contributions!), Dropboxers from all departments are also keeping an eye on it. So please do keep the feedback coming!
Sofia
Sorry, but reversal of poor design decisions is about a few simple questions, not a complex product road map.
Questions are straight forward. Is Dropbox committed to:
- Remove Recents-tab to improve privacy, usability and performance (yes or no?)?
- Remove the totally redundant viewers and allow files to be opened on a tap with the apps that were designed for it like adobe PDF (yes or no)?
- Provide option to share a file instead of a link (yes or no)?
- Support off line synchronization of folders and not just files (yes or no)?
If by now, dropbox still can't answer these questions, then this proves Dropbox is fully disconnected from it's user base and has no customer focused road map in place.
I wish I don't have to migrate away from Dropbox, but the way Dropbox has been responding to the community is appauling. Please stop moderation by other users who then feel empowered to beat up your customers and take management of your community actively into your own hands.
Then give some support instead of just defending yourself or the crappy Recent feature!
Unfortunately I'm sure most people here know my opinions on the shambolic implementation of Recents across Dropbox. I've told anybody I can find in person or online exactly what I feel of it and why its (in my opinion) down right dangerous.