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Votes: 4
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18.04
gnome
gedit
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URL:
https://askubuntu.com/q/1128496
Title:
How to clear history in Gedit? (Ubuntu 18.04)
ID:
/2019/03/25/How-to-clear-history-in-Gedit_-_Ubuntu-18.04_
Created:
March 25, 2019
Edited: July 1, 2019
Upload:
October 19, 2025
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Permanent method to always set number of entries
I’m revising my answer with a variation of this GUI answer for command line users.
Use this command to get current number of entries:
$ gsettings get org.gnome.gedit.preferences.ui max-recents
uint32 5
I want to change to 10 so I’ll use this command:
$ gsettings set org.gnome.gedit.preferences.ui max-recents 10
$ gsettings get org.gnome.gedit.preferences.ui max-recents
uint32 10
If you permanently want to have zero saved recent files change 10 to 0. Notice how the get command is repeated after the set command to ensure it “sticks”.
Manual method to remove entries
The gedit most recent files list are stored in USER_DIR/.local/share/recently-used.xbel.
Root User
$ sudo cat /root/.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"
>
<bookmark href="file:///etc/default/grub" added="2018-08-03T19:25:50Z" modified="2018-12-27T17:03:38Z" visited="2018-08-03T19:25:51Z">
<info>
<metadata owner="http://freedesktop.org">
<mime:mime-type type="text/plain"/>
<bookmark:groups>
<bookmark:group>gedit</bookmark:group>
</bookmark:groups>
<bookmark:applications>
<bookmark:application name="gedit" exec="'gedit %u'" modified="2018-12-27T17:03:38Z" count="41"/>
</bookmark:applications>
</metadata>
</info>
</bookmark>
Normal User
$ cat ~/.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"
>
<bookmark href="file:///home/rick/.conkyrc" added="2019-03-15T10:57:55Z" modified="2019-03-23T19:04:43Z" visited="2019-03-15T10:57:55Z">
<info>
<metadata owner="http://freedesktop.org">
<mime:mime-type type="text/plain"/>
<bookmark:groups>
<bookmark:group>gedit</bookmark:group>
</bookmark:groups>
<bookmark:applications>
<bookmark:application name="gedit" exec="'gedit %u'" modified="2019-03-23T19:04:43Z" count="50"/>
</bookmark:applications>
</metadata>
</info>
</bookmark>
When removing a gedit entry delete all lines from <bookmark href...> to </bookmark> inclusive.
NOTE: Other applications store entries in this file, not just gedit.