(With eclipse Juno 4.2) Just add this piece of code to your ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor class and call the method from preWindowOpen().
private void hideQuickAccess() {
UIJob job = new UIJob("hide quick access") {
@Override
public IStatus runInUIThread(IProgressMonitor monitor) {
IWorkbenchWindow window = PlatformUI.getWorkbench()
.getActiveWorkbenchWindow();
if (window instanceof WorkbenchWindow) {
MTrimBar topTrim = ((WorkbenchWindow) window).getTopTrim();
for (MTrimElement element : topTrim.getChildren()) {
if ("SearchField".equals(element.getElementId())) {
((Control) element.getWidget()).dispose();
break;
}
}
}
return Status.OK_STATUS;
}
};
job.schedule();
It might not work unless changing the accessibility rule of the org.eclipse.e4.ui.model.workbench.source_0.10.1.v20120523-1955.jar.
To change this option, go to the Java build Path menu, find the jar, expand it and the option will appear.
NB: I'm not sure about the entailment of this last change, it could be 'not clean'.
I looked for an answer to this question because Quick Access took a full row in the toolbar. Instead of removing it (Which requires too much hacking for my taste), I just removed a few toolbar buttons that I didn't use anyway, and the Quick Access shifted up among the rest of the buttons taking only an acceptable amount of space.
There is really no need for that many buttons for any one perspective. They should fit unless your screen is tiny. Customise this in Window -> Customize Prespective...
Here is a quick hack which doesn't require any plugin installation, instead you just need to add a few lines to your current layout's CSS file. Works perfectly for me in v4.2.2
Navigate to <ECLIPSE_HOME>/plugins/org.eclipse.platform_<VERSION>/css then open up the CSS file of whichever layout you are using, e.g. mine was e4_default.css. Now append the following snippet to the file:
#SearchField {
visibility:hidden;
}
Now just restart Eclipse and the box is gone.
*Edit
It appears that the layout file e4_basestyle.css is used universally, regardless of your current layout. Thus you should be able to add the above snippet to that file and this fix will be persistent, even if you change layouts.