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Remove list of recently opened files from the File Open Dialog

In Word, in the Open File Dialog, I see a list of files, which I have opened previously, in the File Name combo box. How do I clear this list? 

I tried clearing the recent items (File - Recent) and also by going to advanced options and setting the 'Show this number of Recent Documents' to 0. However, these options did not work.

I tried searching the registry but could not find any key containing the files shown in the recently opened files list.

Would anyone know how to achieve this?
See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826208/en-us for instructions. Note that the Registry keys given are for versions up to Word 2007; the relevant Registry key for Word 2010 would be HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\Open Find.
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Thank you for the reply. However, I could not find any key with the name File Name MRU. I searched in the below registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Word\Settings\Open

I found another key with a similar name
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Word\File MRU

However, deleting the entries in this key only clears recent documents from the File -> Recent menu. The recent documents still show in the Open File Dialog.



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According to the article:

 

For example, the Microsoft Office Word\Settings subkey contains subkeys such as Insert File, Save As, Open, or Modify Location. These keys may vary depending on the past actions that were performed in Microsoft Word.

Under each subkey is another subkey that is named File Name MRU.

 

The keys that you need to be looking at are the Save As and Open keys. For example, here's what I have for Word 2003:

 

Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
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This option is not available for Word 2010. I guess the article you shared applies only to versions before 2010.

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In the trouble shooting section of the article it suggests deleting the whole "Open Find" key and letting it be regenerated.   Have you tried that?

FYI: This tips does not appear to apply to Windows 8 ... I don't see the required entries at all.

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Yeah, I tried deleting the "Open Find" key and let it get regenerated but that did not help. I am using Windows 7 Enterprise Edition.

Is it possible that the information about these recent files (shown in the Open dialog) is stored in the filesystem, and not in the registry?

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Too bad that didn't work.

From what I've read, those entries are either stored in the registry, or as "Windows Shortcuts" (somewhere on your HD). They are not directly stored in the file system.  So you just have to find the right registry entry or directory in the file system. 
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*****
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As computer scientists we are trained to communicate with the dumbest things in the world – computers –
so you’d think we’d be able to communicate quite well with people.
Prof. Doug Fisher

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Last updated September 5, 2022 Views 2,201 Applies to: