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Clear Recent Files in Illustrator Issue

Explorer ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Question:

Is there a fix for this?

---------------------

Goal:

Clear Recently Open Files in Illustrator CC 2017

The First Steps I Took:

In Menu Bar...Illustrator CC>Preferences>File Handling & Clipboard

Change Number of Recent Files to Display from Default 20 to 0

Close Illustrator

Reopen Illustrator

Fixed!

Next Steps (Change Settings Back):

Open Illustrator Preferences

File Handling & Clipboard

Change Number of Recent Files from 0 to Back to the default of 20

Close Illustrator

Re-Open Illustrator

Problem:

The old history of 20 Recently Opened Files is back.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STEP1: Preferences>File Handling & Clipboard

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.11.26 AM.jpg


Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.11.35 AM.jpg

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.11.45 AM.jpg

Step 3:

Restart Illustrator (Close & Open Again)

Appears as though problem resolved

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.13.42 AM.jpg

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.13.19 AM.jpg

What I wanted....but,

Step 4:

Go Back to Preferences...File Handling & Clipboard... Change back to 20

Quit Illustrator

Reopen Illustrator

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.13.34 AM.jpg

Problem: All of the old history returns

Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 7.14.13 AM.jpg

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

mikejmurphy  wrote

Question:

Is there a fix for this?

---------------------

Goal:

Clear Recently Open Files in Illustrator CC 2017

Mike,

If it is imperative that you clear that list, here is one way:

  1. Quit Illustrator
  2. Relaunch, delelting Preferences as you do.
    Because you are on a Mac, hold down Cmd+Shift+Opt+Ctrl, then Open Illustrator. You won't get a dialog box as you do in ID and PS, but your recent files will be clear.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Did you have a document window open when making your changes? Any changes to the preferences that need to be global should be made without an open document. Then, as you have already been doing, you should quit the program after the changes have been made and anything that is actually controlled by the preference file should now be part of the preferences globally when the program is reopened.

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Explorer ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Thanks for the reply Bill.

I did not have any Illustrator documents open when I made this post. Just to be sure, I tried again. This time I closed every single application on Mac, restarted my computer and tried again with only Illustrator open and no documents and the same issue occurred.

It clears everything when I set to 0. When I make the changes back to 20 and restart, everything comes back.

Mike

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Bill, changing global preferences by adjusting settings without a document open work in InDesign, but unfortunately not in Illustrator.

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Explorer ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Good to know and just as an FYI, I did this exact same process in inDesign and it 'stuck'. All of the recent files were cleared when I set to 0 and changed back to 20. When I restarted inDesign, the 20 files did not return.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Is this a recent thing. I've done it many times over the years (since 1989 in fact) and it always worked to save whatever alterations that I'd made to my preferences. Is it possible that the same would have happened had I had a document open?

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Bill, it is not a recent thing.

Preferences in Illustrator can be changed with or without a document open.

Many preferences (like units, swatches and default character/paragraph styles) are saved in the startup document.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Live and learn.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  wrote

Live and learn.

Yes, Bill, one of the great things about being on the forums is picking up a new piece of information here and there!

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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mikejmurphy  wrote

Question:

Is there a fix for this?

---------------------

Goal:

Clear Recently Open Files in Illustrator CC 2017

Mike,

If it is imperative that you clear that list, here is one way:

  1. Quit Illustrator
  2. Relaunch, delelting Preferences as you do.
    Because you are on a Mac, hold down Cmd+Shift+Opt+Ctrl, then Open Illustrator. You won't get a dialog box as you do in ID and PS, but your recent files will be clear.

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Explorer ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Thanks Jane-e. 

I would not say my interest in doing so is imperative or urgent, but probably something Adobe could address as a bug, since it works exactly the same on indesign and not even available as an option in some Of the CC apps.

I'm familiar with that technique as that is how you have to do it with Premier and After Effects. I do appreciate you taking the time to help.

I think my question has been solved/answered, but issue still unresolved.

Thanks all-

mike

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Hi Mike, sometimes when people ask this, they have a document or two that they don't want their boss or co-workers to see!

I agree that it would be nice if it worked the way it does in InDesign. If you want the Illustrator team to see it, the correct way is to fill out a feature request or bug report form. You can do this from the Help menu, I am pretty sure. (I am on my iPad right now.) They read everything that comes in that way.

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Explorer ,
Aug 13, 2017 Aug 13, 2017

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Aah...didn't think about that. No, just me. I will submit it to Adobe and I thank you for your help.

Best, Mike.

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 02, 2019 Nov 02, 2019

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Hi Mike,

I've discovered a way to do this on a Windows setup, but it's slightly onerous. Be sure to back up your preferences file first if you try this. Steps as below:

 

  1. Ensure Illustrator is closed before starting.
  2. Locate Adobe Illustrator Prefs file – in Windows, it's usually in the folder:
    C:\Users\YOUR USER PROFILE NAME HERE\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 23 Settings\en_GB\x64
    (note that your Illustrator version number may be different).
  3. IMPORTANT: Make a backup copy of the preferences file before editing the original.
  4. Open the original file in a text editor and search for the /FileList tag.
  5. Underneath /FileList are items /file0, /file1, etc. (in my case it went up to /file19 because my recent file preference was set to 20) with various data between the curly braces. Remove all the /file tags except for /file0, and remove all the data from within /file0, being careful to make sure there are opening and closing braces for both /FileList and /file0.
    It should look like this:
	/FileList {
		/file0 {
		}
	}

6. Save the preferences file and restart Illustrator. If an error message comes up, copy the backup file over the original and try again.

 

If you don't change preferences very often, you could save a copy of the preferences file with the clean file list and just copy it back over whenever you want to clear recent files - it would be easier than doing the above steps every time. At least until Adobe deems it a problem worthy of putting a "Clear Recent File List" button on the Home screen!

 

Hope this helps you, and others.

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Participant ,
Nov 09, 2019 Nov 09, 2019

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I've been looking for that solution since a very long time. You're a genius!!! The only and, obviously, main reason we sometimes wanna clear recent files is the fact we're re-organizing our files, either by changing their names or folders where they were originally saved on. I just can't believe Adobe put a "Clear recent files" option on Photoshop and didn't it on Illustrator. Such an absurd!

 

Thanks again. I changed illustrator prefs file here and worked like a charm 🙂

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 07, 2020 Dec 07, 2020

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You're welcome, sorry for the late reply - I only tend to log in on the forums when I'm having a problem, so it's been about a year! 🙂

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Explorer ,
Jan 08, 2020 Jan 08, 2020

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Thanks! It worked smoothly!!! I have been looking for this type of solution over years! Thanks again!

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Explorer ,
Jan 08, 2020 Jan 08, 2020

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Thanks! It worked smoothly!!! I have been looking for this type of solution over years! Thanks again!

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New Here ,
Apr 17, 2018 Apr 17, 2018

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@jane-e What if you're on a PC?

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Community Expert ,
Apr 17, 2018 Apr 17, 2018

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Hi BrianMC_1975,

From "How to set preferences in Illustrator"

  • Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) as you start Illustrator. You are prompted to delete the current settings. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Illustrator.

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Explorer ,
Jan 08, 2020 Jan 08, 2020

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But, I think it can be harmful for them who created a permanent preset for working!

 

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Explorer ,
Oct 27, 2022 Oct 27, 2022

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An Dev at Adobe, please invest 5min für an option to delete the recent list. That can be that complex. 😵💫

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Explorer ,
Nov 04, 2022 Nov 04, 2022

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Right? Photoshop has had a "Clear Recent File List" option under File > Open for a LONG time now, while Illustrator has been missing it for 5+ years. It'd be nice if Adobe would focus on improving/finishing their existing features, rather than releasing a buggy new version every year with features that the overwhelming majority of users won't even use. I'm not at all surprised by any of this, but am continuously amazed by Adobe's incompetence as an "iNdUsTrY lEaDeR".

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 30, 2022 Nov 30, 2022

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Hello @rterry1@chromax,

 

Sorry to hear about this experience and for the late response. Illustrator currently does not have this functionality. Would you mind upvoting this UserVoice (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/432...) and adding your comments there? Doing this will help us prioritize this feature request, and you will keep getting all the related updates.

 

Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance. We'd be happy to help.

 

Thanks,

Anubhav

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