Recent files list reduces to 3 upon closing/reopening

[highstream]

Recently, the Recent Files list has started reducing to three items upon closing and reopening Viewer. That is, no matter how many items more than three show in the list before closing, upon reopening it's always three. And no, Clear Completely on Exit is not checked, Ask Before Removing is checked and max is set to 50. Just started in the last very few weeks. First thought was CCleaner, but that's not it. Any ideas (other than switching to Editor, which I'm resisting for now)? Thanks,

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the post - could you please go to Edit --> Preferences --> General, click the "Manage" buttons highlighted in the attached screen-shot and make sure that you don't have the option to clear the recent list, or remove broken entries enabled:

Screenshot_1.zip

Let me know if that helps/doesn't help.

[highstream]

I must not have been clear enough: No, neither have been checked. If the first had, then there wouldn't even be three items, would there?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Gene,

I asked because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't an issue with the option to clear the recents list leaving entries behind.

I also ask because this is working fine for me:

Screenshot_1.zip

Can you send a screen-shot of the Edit --> Preferences --> General --> Manage dialogue? Also, can you make sure that the option "Ask before removing items from the list" is checked and see if that helps?

Cheers,

[highstream]

See http://i60.tinypic.com/jqreb5.jpg. That's the way it's been set up for quite some time, including "Ask Before Removing" being checked.

The following screenshots show the problem in sequence:
- I've opened a bunch of files, closed a few and opened some more - http://i58.tinypic.com/i35r9d.jpg
- Recent Files opened, showing all plus the three already there I think - http://i58.tinypic.com/2yuhg5s.jpg
- Close Viewer and reopen --> 3 files show - http://i57.tinypic.com/28qiht.jpg

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello highstream,

Does your user account have the needed credentials to make changes to the Registry?
Also do you have more than one instance of the Viewer open and maybe those 3 files are opened in the second instance? And you then close the one with the many files first and the one with just those 3 files second?

Also is this the fully installed Viewer or the portable version?

Regards,
Stefan

[highstream]

- I can make changes to the registry
- Only one Viewer open
- Full version, installed from the 16mb executable file

I just reinstalled the zip file version on top, played with files and close/reopen and came up with the same.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi highstream.

Can you check the registry to see if you are getting entries from the Viewer? Remember that as Stefan mentioned the settings in the Viewer are saved on close so it will not show in the registry until you both close the Viewer and refresh the registry display (F5).

Here is the Viewer reg key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\Documents\LastOpened



As you can see there are 17 items in there. I open a new page in the Viewer, check the registry, still 17 even though there are now 18 listed in my Viewer recents list.



I close the Viewer, still only 17 in the registry until it is refreshed and there are 18 items. The 18 show on next Viewer start.

What I'm interested in seeing is the effect on the registry key when you close the Viewer. After a refresh I suspect no new entries are being written. Is this the case?

[highstream]

Here's what I found, which adds to the puzzle: http://i59.tinypic.com/xf0oz5.jpg.

(What file types are allowed for upload?)

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks for that.

So how does the list in the registry compare to what you see in the recents list on starting the Viewer? They should be the same. I take it then they are not?

To upload an image it must be in an archive. Alternatively you can use the IMG tags (one of the forum tools) wrapped around a URL like this:

[highstream]

Thanks for the info on images. Yes, the Viewer itself shows only three Recent items. I don't recall the exact chronological sequence, but it seems to me this started happening sometime more or less around the appearance of the latest Windows 8 update. But that may be wrong or totally irrelevant.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi highstream,

the sequence of events is relevant in that the recents items are not saved in the registry until all instances of the Viewer are closed. The most important part here is that you can confirm the presence of those recent items in the registry prior to launching the Viewer.

Can you confirm that?

regards

[highstream]

Yes, the registry shot after refresh was with the Viewer closed. Opening immediately afterward shows only 3 entries in Recent files. Just repeated it to be sure.

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi, highstream.

Your set of recent-items keys:

00001
00002
...
00005
00013
...

- is very strange - the list should be without any 'hollows'. It looks like that your recents-history is broken and still cannot be rewritten/fixed by application on its exit. I don't known why.. May be some registry cleaning software is still active on your machine and blocks/rollbacks the saving of data to registry from our app..

Please remove entirely the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\Documents\LastOpened
- and check after removing: all recents will gone or not?

Also: change any option(s) in application's Preferences, close app, start again and check for your changes - it was saved or not?

Best
Regards.

[highstream]

Ok, it looks like the corruption you spotted was it. Deleted the registry entry, ran CCleaner, opened Viewer and it looked good, rebooted and opened Viewer and still good.

Might there be a similar fix for getting the default page zoom in Prefs to hold?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Gene,

It's possible - try deleting the DefaultView key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\PageDisplay in the Registry, then setting the options in the application and see if they now hold.

Cheers,

[highstream]

Page Display?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

It's possible that CC Cleaner may be incorrectly removing this entry or reverting the changes made by the Viewer. Can you try making some changes to Page Display --> Default Page Zoom and Page Display --> Default Page Layout (making sure that the option to restore the last used view is unchecked), in the Preferences of the Viewer, then check this section of the Registry to see if the changes have been made?

Cheers,

[highstream]

I unchecked restore last used view and changed the others, followed the same procedure through rebooting, and now it's holding. I've had restore last used view checked - it's a default, isn't it? - but find the phrasing ambiguous. That is, does the last view refer to the last document open in general or the last view of each document?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

The option to restore the last view takes whatever view settings that you had set in the Viewer, previously (layout, zoom level, etc.) and will open like that until a) you change those settings or b) you uncheck that box. If you choose 'a)' and change the settings, it will then open with the new settings. Choosing b) will force the Viewer to use whatever you have set in the preferences.

Cheers,

[highstream]

Thanks for the explanation. It seemed with me "those settings" were being overridden no matter what. But then, maybe that was file or registry corruption. Weill have to see.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Let us know if it continues!

[highstream]

Need to reopen this because the situation has somehow become worse: now, no recent files are being shown except the one(s) currently open, if any, and none of my preferences for page display are holding. Checked the registry and what you referrred to above to delete is not there, so I'm not sure what's going on with this.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi highstream,

Have you tried the Editor? Only critical fixes (security issues, major crashes, etc.), if any, are being implemented in the Viewer now. If not, please do give the Editor a try:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXVE5.zip

Cheers,