How to Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel

This article will guide you on how to disable or delete your recent document list in Microsoft Word or Excel. This will give you little security and safety from other users who may use your PC. They will not guess or know which files you were working on. The procedure is very easy to follow and implement.

Steps

  1. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 1
    1
    Open your Microsoft Word or Excel and Click the "Office" icon.
  2. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 2
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    Click the "Word Options" button.
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  3. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 3
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    From the left menu, click "Advanced".
  4. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 4
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    Find the "Display" section. Here you can see the "Show the number of recent documents" option.
  5. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 5
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    Set the counter to 0.
  6. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 6
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    Click "OK".
  7. Image titled Disable or Delete Recent Document List in Microsoft Word or Excel Step 7
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    Now you can see the recent document list is empty.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    How can I delete individual files?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Open all files, then hold the shift key and delete key until all of the files you want to delete have been selected.
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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 204,930 times.
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Co-authors: 6
Updated: September 20, 2022
Views: 204,930
Categories: Office
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