Clearing Recent Files in Note Attachment

[Mike Kelly 1]

I am trying to figure out how, if possible, to clear the queue of recent files, photos, etc. found when trying to make an attachment to a note. In this case, I want to clear them from a Samsung Galaxy S9 phone using the Android OS. I have tried clearing cache and storage, clearing cache, storage, and then uninstalling/re-installing Evernote, and all of the preceding, but with a soft reset (restart) before re-installing Evernote. I have searched for the specific files in the Android file system as well, but they are not apparent. I have also tried clearing cache in various locations for files (Gallery, Photos, etc.) and emptying trash. Nothing seems to get rid of these "recent" files. I have created "new" entries in this recent list, but still cannot find any place they reside as individual files.

As I look at the list, it is not even clear to me where some of these files are coming from. Something Google related, perhaps.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,

Mike Kelly

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,950]

I'm not a fan of what shows up when trying to do attachments in Evernote Android either. But I've seen the same thing in other apps, and I think it's a particular Android system feature that Evernote calls, not something that Evernote itself generates.

What I've found is that I can tap on the "hamburger" (3 lines) menu at the top left and get some control over where it is looking ("Recent" is only one of many options). I can also tap on the word "Name" and choose a different sorting criterion, such as "Modified" when I'm looking for a recently created file or photo. Tapping the up/down arrow next to the sort criterion toggles between ascending and descending. You can also switch between list and grid view with the icon to the right of the magnifying glass, and of course tap the magnifying glass to search. Hope some of that is some help!

[Mike Kelly 1]

Dave,

Thanks for your reply. I was beginning to suspect this was a quirk of the Android variety. In fact I have played around with the hamburger a bit to see if I could determine the source of these phantom files. I've even run searches in the Android file system, but thus far have not found any specific files. Your information does not "help" in the sense that it solves this problem, but it does help confirm my suspicion that this is just an OS thing. In truth, this is now more of a curious interest in the matter than a practical problem. Nothing is really "broken" for me. I see this sort of thing as a cybersecurity issue, but not one to lose sleep over. If I were a clandestine journalist working in a repressive region, I do not think I would be using Evernote--but then, I would not be using a standard smart phone either. I am not in that situation, so I can quietly entertain myself by trying to figure this out.

Again, I appreciate the input and the reassurance that I'm likely in the right ballpark.

Best,
Mike Kelly (Mike-in-Maine)

[Mike Kelly 1]

Well, I can't say I "figured it out" as such, but I did manage to go to Android Settings => Apps => My Files, click on the sprocket, choose "Edit My Files home" under Customization, and turn off the "Recent Files" option. Then I went through and cleared cache in every app that might hold the files I was looking for: Google Drive, Photos, Gallery, Evernote, etc. Then I powered off the phone for a few seconds. After powering it back up, the files I was after were not available while doing an attachment to a note.

It is not certain what the critical steps were, but that process definitely points to some interaction with the Android OS cache setup. I also note that these files were not an issue on my iPad, even though the Evernote account is the same.
 

Mike Kelly

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,950]

Very interesting! Thanks for the update, Mike. It never would have occurred to me to check the settings for My Files. I may need to take a look in there myself sometime. The phantom "recent" files is especially strange--as if My Files made a list, but never updated it. But honestly, that sounds very much like a Google move.

[Mike Kelly 1]

You're welcome. And likely correct: very Googlish behavior is afoot. I did try a few files in Google Drive, confirmed that they ended up in the Evernote "Recent" during an attachment operation, and then went back and cleared the cache for Google Drive. That eliminated those files in that instance. So, at least in some cases, my longer and more involved process is not required.

Best,
MK

[jefito 5,589]

21 hours ago, Mike Kelly said:

Well, I can't say I "figured it out" as such, but I did manage to go to Android Settings => Apps => My Files, click on the sprocket, choose "Edit My Files home" under Customization, and turn off the "Recent Files" option.

I have no such settings on my Android phone., so it's hard for me to tell what this stuff all means. Is it just something as simple as Evernote caching files locally to reduce the need to go back to the servers to fetch stuff? We know that that's something that they do...

[Mike Kelly 1]

It seems that Evernote really is not doing the caching in this case, it is using the various caches from different file/photo apps to generate a "Recent" list for use in attaching files to notes. That is a good approach. My only interest was to figure out a way to remove some or all items from such a list. Once a way to do that was not intuitively straightforward, I got curious.

Jeff, if you don't have the exact same settings that I noted, I suspect each of your apps for files (Google Drive, DropBox, etc.), music, photos (Gallery, Photos) has some app-specific way to get to the storage and cache and delete stuff. If you do not have My Files (which my Galaxy S9s file manager), the exact steps may differ.