How to clear recently used files without using a terminal?

Question

How can I clear the recently used and viewed files in ubuntu 11.04 without using terminal?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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!

Answer 3

Run the following command in your terminal:

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

Answer 4

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

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

Answer 5

you can use bleachbit go to http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

or install it from software center.

you will find it is a good tool

it can delete all unnecessary files too, and system cache

use as:-

open bleachbit and then check your preferences

for deleting resent documents check only

system>resentdocuments

Answer 6

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

Answer 7

rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
echo -n > ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
sudo chattr -i ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

Answer 8

First, you run this command on your Terminal:

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

Then, you can log out and log in again, or run this command on your Terminal:

zeitgeist-daemon --replace

It's works correctly.

Answer 9

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

Answer 10

Press Alt+F1 > Places > Recent Documents > Clear recent documents. I did this in Ubuntu 10.04.

Answer 11

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

Then

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

It will never add to the recent documents list again.

Answer 12

To empty the file:

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

Then, make the file immutable:

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

That will do the trick.

Answer 13

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

this will do