Comment 15 for bug 1570227

I'm using Linux Mint 18.1 (based on Ubuntu 16.04).
I was experiencing the same problem with gedit and I noticed that GIMP was also not populating the document history. A search for this issue with GIMP found a post that explained that under Preferences -> System Settings -> Privacy, there is an option to "Remember recently accessed files" (defaulting to "Off"). I've enabled that and now I'm getting my history lists again, although on gedit, it's only through the Open \/ menu.
Personally, I'd prefer it if the File menu was fixed, but if we're going to have to use the new open drop-down, then the "Open Recent" option needs to be removed to avoid further confusion.