Recent Places Menu

[Eagle_Rider]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

When I Double Click to add a picture, a "Choose a Picture" menu pops up. The default location is Desktop. If I click on the drop down menu I get the file tree to navigate to another location superior to the Desktop. This is good, however, I am networked to other Macs and I also get a group of "Recent Places", which apparently are areas that have been previously navigated to on one of the other Macs. The problem is that the "Recent Places" can present material that is not suitable for children that might me using my Mac. I have found NOTHING instructing me on how to block or erase the "Recent Places" documents that are shown in the drop down menu. It seems top me that there should be a method to delete access to the "Recent Places" menu as can be done in numerous other applications. I need to know how to delete or limit access to the "Recent Places" menu.

 

[CyberTaz]

The Recent Places list is a part of the Open dialog which is generated by
the OS. I don't know of any programs that offer a means of disabling it. In
fact, AFAIK, OS X doesn't even offer such an option.

Access to any content is intended to be regulated by individual User
Accounts for which Parental Controls can be exercised. It isn't the
"responsibility" of any given program to determine who has access to what.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Eagle_Rider]

I appreciate your response however, i would argue that most applications that show anything having to do with Recent files allow you to clear the file list. For instance PREVIEW (an OS App) on the File Dropdown menu shown 3rd from the top offers an "Open Recent" selection. However, clicking on that selection extends the menu and offers a "Clear Menu" selection which deletes all of the files listed. In MS Word and other MS apps you can go to the Preferences and choose how many, if any, recent files you want listed on the dropdown File menu. While I can appreciate what parental controls will do it will not solve this problem. In the Recent Places menu the Named files are sometimes Grayed out so they could not be selected, although sometimes the files are in fact selectable. It is the presentation of the NAMED files on another Mac that appear to have been accessed by another user that show up as a "Surprise" while playing with Powerpoint in my account (no parental controls) with my school age son watching to learn how to use the application. I search for a picture file and up pops a bunch of files with inappropriate and suggestive names. The only way I can control it is to take that Mac off the shared network. This works only if I happen to know of the inappropriate content ahead of time. Surely there must be some way in the preferences to control what files are shown in the Recent Places menu. Other applications that offer Recent files but allow control are Photoshop, etc. I have never seen this particular menu on any other application which is why I presumed it was PowerPoint specific. Any more thoughts??

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Eagle Rider - What you described in the first message & what you're
referring to most recently are 2 different things - and unfortunately you
called the one by the correct name for the other. Maybe we can clarify it by
pointing out the distinction

The list in the File menu - maintained in the individual program - is the
Most Recently Used file list, or MRU. You're absolutely right that in Office
2004 you do *not* have an optiion to clear that list other than through the
app's Preferences. The Prefs allow you to set the number of tracked files or
turn the list off altogether. Since Office 2004 is more than 4 years old the
"Clear Recent" command wasn't included because it didn't evolve until later
in the life cycle of OS X - If you think about it, the 'other programs'
you're referring to are most likely somewhat *newer* releases than Office
2004. Those later releases had the Clear Recent command factored in... as
does Office 2008, but I doubt we'll see it added into Office 2004 - the
software is just to old.

What you originally identified as "Recent Places", however, is an actual
part of the OS X Open & Save As dialogs. It appears at the bottom of the
locations list & is dimly but specifically captioned as such. *That's* what
I thought you were referring to. However, it doesn't display the names of
*files* it only displays the names of folders - or "places" - that have been
navigated to. This is what I was addressing in my reply & I don't know of
any even reasonably convenient waty to modify it or turn it off.

For better or worse the trail is being tracked in several different ways &
for most user requirements that's what they want & expect. I honestly don't
know what to suggest to remedy your situation - although parental controls
*should* solve the problem if you simply log out then log in using the
account that has them enforced.

 

[Eagle_Rider]

Thanks, Bob - we are now talking about the same specific problem concerning the Recent Places vs Recent Files. It appears that if I go in and open a bunch of unrelated docs in a bunch of unrelated folders that I can force the bad stuff out of the file que, so that is a technique that will solve the problem the hard way! Gosh, there really ought to be a better way for the Op Sys to manage this stuff. I agree that for the most part it is a user convenience, but is should also be a user managed feature. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

You sound like you know what you are talking about. I have been trying to find someone who can tell me how to tell which of the 3 serial numbered MS Office 2004 Student/Teacher versions is loaded on a particular machine. When I installed the software a Product ID gets established which can be found in the About App window. However, I cannot determine from the Product ID which of the 3 Install Serial Numbers was actually used when the software was installed on that particular machine. When I want to install one of the other licensed packages on another machine I do not want make the mistake of installing from a license ID that has already been used. Is there some way to figure out which license ID has been used on a particular machine?? Guess I should buy a MS 2008 package but I am thinking I will still have the same question. Although if I do it again I will probably record which serial number I use for a particular machine at the time I install the app.

Thanks

 

[Mickey Stevens]

I have been trying to find someone who can tell me how to tell which of the 3
serial numbered MS Office 2004 Student/Teacher versions is loaded on a
particular machine. When I installed the software a Product ID gets
established which can be found in the About App window. However, I cannot
determine from the Product ID which of the 3 Install Serial Numbers was
actually used when the software was installed on that particular machine. When
I want to install one of the other licensed packages on another machine I do
not want make the mistake of installing from a license ID that has already
been used. Is there some way to figure out which license ID has been used on a
particular machine??

No. I would just install on the new machine machine using one of the keys.
Then, if you are using the same key by mistake, you will be alerted of that
fact when you try to use Office. In that case, simply go to the
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Additional Tools/Remove Office/ and
launch the "Remove Office" application. When it opens, hold down the Option
key, and click the "Remove Licensing Information Only" button. You can then
enter in another key.