Apparently the new "Recent Tools" only works if the tool was selected directly from the ribbon.
Tools can be activated in many different ways. They can be selected from the ribbon. They can be activated through Position Mapping. They can be chosen from a custom toolbar. They can be clicked in the Task menus. They can even be Keyed in using the Keyin Browser.
Limiting the "recent" list to strictly ribbon-activated tools is a ridiculous constraint which makes the "Recent tools" list underwhelming (at best) to useless (depending on one's working style. MicroStation, the program, can recognize a tool regardless of the method of activation. We except the same from the "Recent Tools".
Case CS0037786--Recent Tools do not work with tool boxes--I was just coming over here to start this idea, but someone beat me to it. Personally, I consider this a bug, that the "recent tools" only considers "recent ribbon tools". Please fix this issue in future releases of Microstation.
While I defininetly want keyins and function key commands added to recents, i wouldn't want every key-in used in a VBA or every key-in used in a keyin script added to my recents list, just that i ran the vba, or just that i ran the keyin script.
I have not tested this fully and I know this was not mentioned directly and may be obvious - but would like to add that any "custom tool" be part of this. I feel that if this is not stated it would be overlooked.