How to clear or delete my recent documents in Windows

Posted on January 10, 2008 at 8:10 am

Looking for a way to delete the recent documents list in Windows? Don’t you hate it sometimes how many things Windows tracks, like all of the most recent documents you have opened in ANY program. If you want to disable recent documents and remove/clear your most recent documents, it’s actually a pretty simple process!

I’m going to explain the method for clearing the my recent documents list in Windows XP, but the same holds true for Windows Vista. So here’s a step by step guide to deleting your my recent documents list:

recent documents

First, right-click on the Start Button and choose Properties:

start menu properties

You’ll now be in the Start Menu and Taskbar properties dialog box. You should already be on the Start Menu tab. Go ahead and click on the Customize button.

start menu customize

You should now be viewing the Customize Start Menu dialog box. Go ahead and click on the Advanced tab.

clear recent documents

At the bottom, you’ll see a section called Recent Documents. Click Clear List to clear the most recent list of documents. If you do not want Windows to record your recent documents at all, uncheck the List my most recently opened documents box. That’s it!

Now the option on the Start Menu for most recent documents will be removed and nothing will be recorded! Have any questions, post a comment! Enjoy!

[tags]my recent documents, clear recent documents, clear my recent documents, delete recent documents, disable recent documents, remove recent documents, how to clear recent documents, delete my recent documents[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

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Comments

13 Responses to “How to clear or delete my recent documents in Windows”

  1. Vaibhav said on :

    I think the better solution is to run utility like CCleaner once a week or so. This will take care of your recent documents, and the recent files captured by other programs like Word, Excel etc.


  2. akishore said on :

    Vaibhav, I agree! If you have CCleaner, it clears out your recent documents and browser history also. Thanks.


  3. Dinesh said on :

    Its easy way to clear documents. Excellent


  4. chinapapa said on :

    this is the most best site I have visited. good job.


  5. st3po2000 said on :

    You must modify the Windows XP Registry to stop XP from keeping track of your recent documents. The start menu options above dont stop the shortcuts from being stored under your profile folder.

    Registry Key is
    HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    Add DWORD value named NoRecentDocsHistory with Data Value of 1 to above, save, and reboot.

    MS Tweak UI has a Recent Documents function, as well. Available from Microsoft.


  6. FK Woo said on :

    Hi,
    Can someone tell me how to automatically clear the “my recent documents” after each Windows session.
    I find manually clearing it at end of each session too tedious and i am a forgetful guy.:(
    I am not a technie , so a simple step by step guide or screen shots would be greatly appreciated.

    THANK YOU!!

    21 Nov


  7. Dave Vandermus said on :

    The problem with the built-in option where you uncheck the check box is that this does not work with the classic start menu. I’ve even tried changing the start menu format and then unchecking the option, but as soon as I go back to the classic start menu, it starts tracking recent documents again.


  8. Mister Fidwick said on :

    Can anyone help me – there is another “my recent documents”, if you open microsoft word, click open and on the side panel there is “my documents, my computer, my recent documents”- it still shows recent documents even after I have followed the above steps. How can I clear it, I dont want my documents beng accessed!


  9. Malu said on :

    I followe instructions on how to clear “my recent documents’ but the documents are still there. I need to get rid of them. Please help me!


  10. Raja said on :

    Thanks for providing useful suggestions .


  11. sunil said on :

    The suggestion was really helpful! I needed to clear my recent documents! Thanks a lot.


  12. Helen said on :

    Thank you so much for making this easy to understand. Worked first go! Recent documents are now all gone!


    Pingbacks
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