Is there a way to clear search history?

[Peobody]

I have just finished looking through Basecamp options and then searching this forum hoping to find a way to delete the search history in Basecamp. Mine isn't very long yet, but there is no reason for it to exist. What are the options for removing it?

If manually editing user.config is the only way, can anyone tell me whether deleting the content between <value> and </value> will work?
This attribute is under: <setting name="RecentSearches" serializeAs="String">

[jfheath]

I'm going to be less than useless on this one.
I didn't realise that it had a search history !!

[sussamb]

Me neither!

[lkraus]

Be brave and try it! At worst, you have to re-install Basecamp.

But the answer is yes!

Code: Select all

 <bc.FindOptions_t>
            <setting name="RecentSearches" serializeAs="String">
                <value>
                </value>
            </setting>

For any other Windows users that want to do this, I found the config file to edit in a text editor is at "BaseCamp.exe_Url_urbejbdz42c555ix3xqbitecusqt0tuj\4.7.5.0BaseCamp.exe_Url_urbejbdz42c555ix3xqbitecusqt0tuj\4.7.5.0\user.config"

The last two folder names (BaseCamp.exe_Url_urbejbdz42c555ix3xqbitecusqt0tuj\4.7.5.0) might vary depending on your software version, but a copy/paste of "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\GARMIN_Corp" into File Explorer should get you close enough to find the rest.

[Peobody]

Be brave and try it! At worst, you have to re-install Basecamp.

I am only brave after exhausting every attempt at avoiding it.

Your code snippet reassures me that I'm on the right track. What did you use to produce it? I have only ever looked at .xml with Notepad in which line wrapping makes it a mess.

[lkraus]

I use Notepad++, but that .config file looks the same in the Windows default Notepad app. View>Word wrap might give you a different result.

[Peobody]

I triggered the "Reset options to default values..." function in Basecamp to see if it would create a new user.config file. It did, but, the new file contained a completely different set of recent search entries. They were ones that I had done, but over a year ago. I don't know where they came from. Regardless, this was a learning experience that revealed the behaviour of the recent search history list. It is limited to the last ten searches. Once you hit ten, each new search replaces the oldest search entry in the list. So, it is self maintaining at ten entries.

I also determined that removing all data between <value> and <\value> cleared the recent search list.

Unfortunately, I learned that some of the configuration settings in Edit > Options are not maintained in the user.config file. I had backed it up before resetting options. Restoring that backed up file did not restore all of the configuration settings. I immediately noticed differences in the Display and Activity Profile settings. These must be stored in the database, which I didn't think to backup up. Oh well! My well-oiled Basecamp needs to be re-oiled.

[zumokaren]

It's good info to know that it self-manages the search history to 10 entries.