Filter MapShare Data : Un-Share: Changing the Primary Collection

I believe this is the intended behavior. You are running afoul of the "collections" feature. The special collection named "Sent to MapShare" cannot be hidden in MapShare. This collection is intended to contain things which were explicitly sent to MapShare. 

What you are seeing on the "filter MapShare" page is a list of collections defined for the device. You can filter out the contents of collections other than "MapShare", which cannot be filtered. The trick here is to make sure that your tracks do NOT go to the MapShare collection. AFAIK, the only way to do that is to set up a different collection (which you may already have), turn OFF MapShare visibility for that collection, and set that collection as the Primary Collection for the device.

To do all of that, you will have to use both the Map tab (at explore.garmin.com) and the Plans & Devices tab. You set up new collections and control MapShare visibility from the left sidebar of the Map tab. You designate the Primary Collection from Plans & Devices. Use the "Collections" link for the device itself. When you set up the primary collection for the device, DO NOT elect to "Sync Everything":

You can probably hide old tracks (those which are in the "Sent to MapShare" collection) by setting up the date filter on MapShare. AFAIK, you cannot filter waypoints this way - only tracks.

In general, that Date filter is the easiest way to get rid of old clutter on MapShare. While you are there, you may also wish to disable MapShare visibility for the Library. Unlike "real" collections, you cannot control MapShare visibility for the Library from the Map tab. The point here is that the offending tracks are in the Library, too. The date filter will take care of them. But, in general, displaying the Library contents on MapShare is going to confuse things some more.

Wow, thank you - I never realized there was a Primary Collection setting.  

It seems there is a combination of bugs and poorly-desiged features.

Issue 1:  Hide Older MapShare Tracking Data works fine, but it only hides tracks; it does not hide waypoints, routes, and activites.  So even if I set MapShare to only show my latest trip, my friends & family will still see a bunch of clutter on the map from my prior trips.  I think this is a poor design, but at least it's documented and functions as described.

Issue 2:  This is clearly a bug. on the Social / Filter MapShare Data page, you are given a checkbox to disable sharing of every collection.  You can not un-share the MapShare collection (which makes sense, and the UI shows a locked padlock, and the tooltip explains why).  

However (and this is the bug): you can also not un-share the Primary collection, even though the UI shows a checkbox, and the toolTip says you can disable it.   I'm not sure if being able to un-share the primary collection should be allowed, but the website UI is clearly buggy since it seems to allow you to do this, but the button does nothing.

I'll post my workaround in another reply.

You can set the primary collection to NOT be visible on MapShare. Do this from the sidebar on the Map tab, using the M icon in the header bar for the collection.

twolpert said:

You can set the primary collection to NOT be visible on MapShare. Do this from the sidebar on the Map tab, using the M icon in the header bar for the collection.

I just tried this, and it does not work for me:

* on Map / Collections I click my primary collection.  

* this reveals the toolbar, one of the icons is the M icon which is bold.

* click the bold M icon

* this opens up a popup window Make Collections Visible on MapShare

* click the checkbox for your primary collection

* result: nothing happens, the checkbox stays checked.

Based on these tests, I'm pretty sure you can not disable the primary collection from MapShare

(tested in Safari 15.5)

I tried it and it worked for me. The explore web site is a work in progress. We could be looking at an intermittent bug. No telling. You can try opening a support ticket, but I would not be entirely hopeful. The whole collection thing is poorly understood, even when it is working right (if ever).

Note that when I tested this, I was looking at my MapShare page while logged in as the account owner. The MapShare page does not always behave the same way for users who are NOT the owner.

How do you disable the MapShare visibility for the Library? I have the same issue with that as you do with the primary collection. It shows Library with a checkbox. Hovering over it says "disable", but it won't uncheck. This is seriously one of the worst user experiences I've seen.

5344595 said:

How do you disable the MapShare visibility for the Library

Not sure - my Library was not set to shared when I started this process.

I believe that the rule is basically that "Map Share" and [Whatever your Primary Collection is] are always shared.

Did you try setting up a new Primary Collection?  If you do that, you may be able to turn off sharing for the Library.