Hi, How do you remove sketches from the open recent list? I have tried deleting the sketches in the arduino file but they still show up in the open recent list. Right clicking on the sketch shows a delete button but this doesn't work. Too many files are showing up on the open recent list.
Thanks.
Save more sketches? I don't know because I don't generally use the sketches folder. My projects are in each separate folders complete with notes and supporting files. If it's a keeper it gets saved to my Github page in a repository. When I want to do any updates, I use Github Desktop and open the project in File Explorer. This way I always start my changes from the same version.
I started using Github Desktop when I discovered a project in four or five different folders and I couldn't just use the file date because I use tabs liberally and found myself confused of where I was.
It would help if you told us which version of the IDE you're using.
Hi, When you say which version I assume you are meaning which board I am using. I am using the nano board with the atmega 328p MCU. I believe the arduino uno board is also commonly used.
Otherwise I can't find what version of the IDE I am using.
The problem is everytime I look up an old sketch for reference it gets added to the open recent list. I only want in this list sketches I am currently working on. There must be some way around this or this list gets too long.
It seems that a list of recent sketches is stored in a comma separated list in the
preferences.txt file, which in itself can be found in the arduino15 (or .arduino15, depending on your operating system) folder.
recent.sketches=/path/to/sketch1.ino,/path/to/sketch2.ino
You could edit this line if no better suggestions are given.
The workaround could be to use a different editor to open older sketches. In a Windows environment, I use notepad++ for that. It's also significantly faster to open 
If I want to clean out recent files in IDE 2.0, I delete C:\Users\yourUsername.arduinoIDE\recent-sketches.json and C:\Users\yourUsername.arduinoIDE\recentworkspace.json.
Hi, My version of the IDE is 1.8.13 .
The version is 1.8.13. I notice that there is always 10 sketches on the open recent list. If I don't want a sketch anymore and it is on the open recent list I can delete it in the arduino file and it is also removed from the open recent list. Then, real annoying, another older file is added to the recent open list to make up the list of 10.
I need to be able to reduce the number of sketches in the open recent list but not by deleting them. Thanks for the suggestions from several people but I don't really understand them. For instance I can't find an arduino 15 file and there is no recent sketches listed in my arduino file. Can't find the preferences. txt file referred to. I have windows 10.
arduino15 is a hidden directory in a default Windows setup.
You should be able to open the directory in windows explorer using file→preferences in the IDE. The directory name is clickable (!)
It is noted in the dialog shown in sterretje's screenshot, but worth stating here that you must close all Arduino IDE windows before making any changes to the preferences.txt file. If you don't do that then your changes will not have any effect (the IDE will revert them).
Can't find that page you are showing. All I have in my Arduino file is a list of sketches. Where do I find that page showing all those boxes and the bit down the bottom which you have outlined in red. That must be what I need to fix the open recent problem?
Read reply #10 again.
OK I have found it. In notepad there is a long list of recent sketches. Much more than the 10 showing up on arduino. What can I do now? I see in edit you can find a particular file. Can you then delete it? I don't want to delete altogether just off the recent sketches list. I need only about 5 sketches on my recent sketches list which I work on quite often as I modify them.
Can I somehow do this? I don't need 10 .
Yes
You have a few options
- Delete the complete line that starts with
recent.sketches. The result will be that you don't have any recent sketches which might not quite be what you want but starting from sketch with that list is easy - Analyse that line and remove what you don't need. As mentioned by @jfjlaros, entries are separated by a comma. So remove those that you don't need and the associated comma.
Before doing this, close the IDE and make a backup of the file preferences.txt.
Once you have cleaned the recent.sketches, save the file and start the IDE.
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.