Description:
This is not a bug submission, but rather a comment and suggestion about a feature change made in the most recent update of LibreOffice (24.8.2.n) that has significantly degraded the quality my user experience, and probably that of many other LibreOffice enthusiasts as well. Perhaps you can forward it to an appropriate person on the LO team.
The feature in question is the down-pointing arrow (▼) alongside the Open File icon on the Standard toolbar. When using previous versions of LibreOffice, if one clicked on that arrow it brought up a list of the dozen or so most recent files that had been open, regardless of which LibreOffice component (Writer, Calc, Impress, etc.) you were then using. When using the latest major version update (24.8.2.n), however, a click of the arrow lists only the files of the same type of document that is in the window from which you are invoking it. For example if you are using a document in Writer the list will include only file-types such as “odt,” “docx,” “txt,” etc. Similarly if you’re using Calc the list will include only documents of the type “ods”, “xlsx,” etc. 
I can see why many users would find this more convenient. However I am not one of them, and I suspect there are many people like me in this regard. I suggest this feature be made a choice in the Tools/Options menu, perhaps under Load/Save, so that all users can choose what works best for them. 
Thank you for your consideration.
Chuck Lindeberg
chuck419bld@gmail.com

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open a file on any LO component
2.Click on the down arrow alongside the Open File icon on the Standard toolbar


Actual Results:
Observe the list includes only files that are processed by that LO component.

Expected Results:
All types of files usable in LO listed, regardless of component


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
n.a.