Recent Files does not work: Stays empty

[teamcons]

What Happened?

Nothing shows up in Recent Files in the file manager

Zeitgeist is running, and the privacy tabs follows default

Disabling then enable history does not change anything

Steps to Reproduce

Default install, nothing fancy done. Same situation in the last few weeks

Expected Behavior

Recent Files shows up in Recent Files

OS Version

8.x (Early Access)

Session Type

Secure Session (Wayland)

Software Version

Latest release (I have run all updates)

Log Output

No response

Hardware Info

No response

[jeremypw]

Thanks for the report. Please confirm that the view shows "There are no Recent Files" rather than "Privacy Mode On". If you disable history and re-enable then recent files are cleared so you would need to add some more. Not all apps use the "recent://" location for this. GEdit definitely does. (See elementary/code#1461 for a PR to make Code do the same). Note also #2496 - the recent view does not always automatically update after switching history off and on, so needs to be refreshed.

[teamcons]

I confirm it shows "there are no recent files"

Actually it showed at first, post install only one file: The profile picture of my account, which on first boot was the only file in $HOME
Later on, no subsequent file showed up

I have tried to unstick "Recent Files" by activating and deactivating privacy mode (and clearing history? im not sure) a few reboots ago, which only cleared it from that only file

i never file any bug report without witnessing a bug accross a few different sessions (so with reboots inbetween)

[jeremypw]

I just tried editing a file using the Flatpak version of GEdit and it did not add it to recent:// where as the apt installed version did. From which apps are you expecting to see recent files and how were they installed?

You could try installing nautilus (using sudo apt install) and seeing whether that shows any files in recent://. I have been unable to reproduce this bug on OS8 when there are definitely recent files in recent://.

[teamcons]

From which apps are you expecting to see recent files and how were they installed?

Usage is editing textfiles with Code,
Looking at pictures with Photos
taking screenshots with the eOS default screenshot thingie
opening various images with discord
editing excel and word files with OnlyOffice
Listening to music files with Music
watching videos with Videos, then Celluloid (Videos not functional here)
Opening PDFs with the default PDF viewer
saving a file with Mail

all Flatpaks.

I did today a fresh reinstall, the only image showing up is the profile picture of another user account i set up (that crashes, i need to file a bug report)

Nautilus

Will try, will keep you updated

EDIT: After a few operations in Nautilus, Recent:// fills up there with manipulated/opened files
Files fills up with these files as well
Files however still do not fill Recent:// on its own

Not sure if of any interest but Nautilus installs Tracker

[jeremypw]

Yes, I think zeitgeist doesn't work with Flatpaks or is being abandoned in favour of Tracker. Maybe there is a portal for adding files to a global recent file manager (I'll check) but I think Flatpak apps often maintain their own list within the sandbox? I am pretty sure this isn't a Files bug as such - it shows recent files added to recent:// but a lot of apps (including Files) are not adding them as you expect.

[jeremypw]

I notice I raised related issues #2046 and #2274 last year. And there are some even older ones #1671 and #1181. As most apps are likely to run in a sandbox in future the solution lies outside of Files I think. I guess adding to the Recent folder makes sense if a file is launched with Files though. I'll try to implement that and see whether it gets merged.

[jeremypw]

I'll close this as there are a number of related issues already open waiting to be addressed. I'll mark it as a duplicate of #2274 as that is the only one that can be fixed purely within Files.