No 'recent' files shown until a file is opened (due to gmenumodel changes)

screen showing current

File menu from 3.10.3-0ubuntu3

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Lars, could you have a look?

The bug has been partially taken care of. A recent file list does appear when there is an already opened file, but no such list appear when evince does not have any file opened.

I see same behavior in evince 3.14.2-0ubuntu2 (Ubuntu 15.04).

The behaviour changed, there is no such menu now when opening a file but if started without a file the initial screen is a grid containing the recent documents...

@Sebastien Bacher, I can attempt to fix this bug. Can you show me where the repo code for this is and how can I test the evince package and send you a pull request?

Not to dissuade you but -
15.04 is just about EOL, 15.10 to follow this early summer so if
affected they don't really matter anyway.
This is not an issue in 16.04 as evince opens to a populated recent
documents screen
So that leaves 14.04 where this is a current issue however a fix could
require a SRU, is anyone going to follow thru on that?

On 01/21/2016 10:58 AM, Prahlad Yeri wrote:
> @Sebastien Bacher, I can attempt to fix this bug. Can you show me where
> the repo code for this is and how can I test the evince package and send
> you a pull request?
>

> This is not an issue in 16.04 as evince opens to a populated recent documents screen

I disagree with this, one of the main points of the feature is to open files while you are reading other ones.

This is an important user facing feature and I can't see why it's listed a 'low' priority.

We've waited 2 years for an LTS upgrade from 14.04 to 16.04 for evince, and it seems like we'll have to wait two more for a basic feature.

Evince 3.18.2: I never see a recent files list.

Evince 3.32.0 in Ubuntu 19.04:

Grid with recent files is shown when opening the viewer.

When already viewing a document, one must choose "New window" from the single menu to open that "Recent documents" grid (and be able to choose from there). I had long been unaware of that, because I either press Ctrl+O for Open…, or I look in the menu for "Recent documents". In my opinion, the "New window" approach is wrong for several reasons:

1. It is non-standard (new window in GEdit or Firefox is empty until you open a document in it; new documents are empty; opening an existing document is called "Open", not "New").

2. It adds an extra step for such a frequent task as Open… (need to choose "New window", then locate the "Open…" button in that grid window, navigate to it and click it).

3. It has no keyboard shortcut linked with it. Although I can and do use Ctrl+O to go to directly to the Open… dialog, there is no shortcut for "New window", so I can't access recent files by keyboard.

I suggest putting "Open…" and "Open recent" (with a submenu) back into the application's menu again.

This bug has been assigned to Lars Karlitski. I don't know him, but he seems to last have been active here back in 2016. Could that possibly be blocking the progress in this issue?

Sorry, I haven't been working on Evince for years. It has changed a lot and I don't think I can be of help anymore.