Recent Menu doesn't show most used file

I have one database that I’ve been working in on a daily basis for some time. It has never shown in the Open Recent list, although databases I opened once or others I haven’t opened in months are listed.

I cleared the menu, and after opening and working in the file a few times, including some Quits, the menu now remains empty.

I had a file that did the same thing and was driving me nuts. I finally looked in the File/Database Options… menu and saw that the Exclude from Recent Menu option was turned on for that file. Have no idea how that happened since I had never gone in there before.

You nailed it. I never set that either but am glad to have it resolved.

This was a Pan 6 import so maybe that caused a default…?

The file I had with the problem was also one I imported from Pan 6.

That option is definitely set to OFF when a database is imported from Panorama 6, or when any database is created.

Internally, Panorama uses this option for libraries, wizards, and channel plug-ins, so that those items don’t show up in the Recent menu. For your databases, here is how that can get set:

  • in the Database Options dialog
  • with the setdatabaseoptions statement (which is actually how the Database Options dialog does it)
  • by putting an excludefromrecentmenu statement just before an openfile or opendatabase statement

I imagine that Gary and Jim will say that they didn’t do any of these, which leaves me with a puzzle since the three items above are the only code that touches this option.

True, I am sure I never did any of these things and there is only one file that I brought over from Pan 6 that had this happen. All the others were normal in this regard.

It’s been a while (maybe a year) since I imported my file so there’s no memory but I can’t imagine a reason to set it to be omitted.

Maybe something has changed in the meantime, but I have some others to import. I’ll watch.

The same here: One file that did not show up in the recent files; nor in the menu nor in the pops-menu of the dock icon.
I found that the “Omit from recent files” option was checked, and I am sure I did not set it so.

I had to restart my Mac to have the Dock icon’s “Recent files” popup menu display this special file, too.

I too suddenly had a much-used DB disappear from recents; and upon checking I saw that the exclude from recents option was checked. I certainly didn’t check it, so some kind of gremlin is definitely involved. I’m still using El Capitan; too many bad reports about the new system…

I’ve regularly been having my ‘Open Recent’ display no files. I thought that perhaps it only happened when a new version of Pano X was installed, but I"m not thinking so. I’ve looked to see if the Database Options ‘exclude’ was checked, but that is not it. I can not get databases to appear in the Open Recent.

Out of curiosity: How is your setting for recent objects in System Preferences > General ?

Hmmm. That just move the bug from Jim’s list to my Apple list. Your idea was correct. But in that I’ve not edited that or ever turned it off, when and how did that change? I’ve had the Recent Items list in the Apple menu come and go and I’ve always tagged it to particular applications as some seemed to display it and others not.

Thanks for the poke to look there.

FYI, recent documents are tracked by Apple, not by individual applications (at least for modern applications – Panorama 6 did track recent documents itself, but Panorama X relies on Apple for that).

… and this list of recent documents is only updated with files that are opened via Apple methods like the File > Open … command or via double click in the Finder or by dragging a file onto the PanX icon in the dock; the list is not updated by using PanX’s Open Recent or Open Favorites menu commands.

Well, that’s a very useful snippet of information - thanks Kurt.

I am going to guess that it may not be correct or at least it may be misleading. I am imagining that it IS updated by using Pan X’s Open Recent menu command. Else it would fall off the ‘Open Recent’ listing after a while if the user ‘only’ used the Open Recent to access that file. I’m betting that is not so and that using Open Recent will in fact update the usage cache to allow it to remain in that menu.

Actually, Robert is correct, both of those actions do update the Recent list.

I would not have said that if it was not my fresh experience in the last days, after I had wiped my SSD, done a clean installation of macOS, and recovered all my data from backups. The Recent menu and the popup menu of the Dock icon did not fill with databases I opened from Open Favorites.

(I was wrong when I mentioned opening from the Open Recent menu: Database that are already displayed there, obviously aren’t an issue.)

I’d like to add that the “Recent databases” menus (in the File menu or the popup menu in the dock) are not filled either when you open files procedurally.

FWIW, I’d prefer that files that I open procedurally not be added to the Open Recent selection. I’m pretty sure this was intentional.