If Okular’s Recent Files list contains documents located on a mounted network share, starting Okular while the network is unavailable or unstable causes very long startup delays or apparent hangs. This happens even when: Okular is started without opening any document, or Okular is started with a local PDF file. The user has not clicked any recent file, but Okular still probes them during startup. Other PDF viewers (e.g. SumatraPDF, Adobe Acrobat Reader) show recent files but do not touch them until explicitly selected. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. open remote file on mounted path 2. close okular, disconnect network 3. open another local file or just blank okular OBSERVED RESULT Okular startup hangs while checking recent files. strace shows blocking filesystem access to a recent network path: $ strace okular ./test.pdf ... access("/home/user02/SambaShares/company/printer/office01-printer/2026-01/Untitled_20260113_132614.pdf", F_OK) = <hangs> EXPECTED RESULT Okular should display Recent Files without accessing them on startup like SumatraPDF. Network paths should only be accessed when the user clicks a recent entry. As user I sometimes need recent network files when connectivity is restored, so removing Recent Files entirely is not an acceptable workaround. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Operating System: KDE neon User Edition KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.21.0 Qt Version: 6.10.1 Kernel Version: 6.17.11-061711-generic (64-bit) Graphics Platform: Wayland Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U w/ Radeon 780M Graphics Memory: 64 GiB of RAM (61,5 GiB usable) Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon 780M Manufacturer: LENOVO Product Name: 21JV0025GE System Version: ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION As a user, I am usually aware when the network is unavailable or unstable (e.g. while traveling train, bad hotel wifi) and deliberately avoid opening network-backed recent files. However, Okular still accesses those paths automatically on startup, causing unnecessary blocking and poor usability in such situations.