The "Most recently used" list is missing from the File menu, and the "Recently used file list" option is unavailable in Office XP and in Office 2003

When you click the File menu to choose a file from the most recently used file list, the most recently used file list is missing. When you click Options on the Tools menu and then click the General tab, you see that the Recently used file list check box is unavailable (appears dimmed).

This behavior is by design. It occurs if your computer is running the Tweak UI program, and the Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu check box on the IE tab of Tweak UI is cleared (not selected). The group policy setting that governs the display of MRUs indicates that MRUs are not to be displayed.

Click to select the Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu check box on the IE tab of Tweak UI. To do this, follow these steps.

Note To perform the following steps, you must be logged on as a member of the local Administrators group.

1. In Control Panel, double-click Tweak UI.
2. Click the IE tab.
3. Click to select the Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu check box, and then click OK.

Tweak UI and Group Policy

When you click to clear the Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu check box, the value of NoRecentDocsHistory under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\ is set to binary 01 00 00 00. NoRecentDocsHistory is a system-level Group Policy setting.

For any program, including Office, to be Microsoft Windows 2000 logo compliant, the program must honor the value of NoRecentDocsHistory. When this policy is turned on, the program must not display any MRU lists, for example, MRUs on the File menu and the Save and Open dialog boxes.

Tweak UI on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows NT 4

When you use Tweak UI on Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4, you can modify NoRecentDocsHistory only if you are a member of the Administrators group.

About Tweak UI

Tweak UI is an unsupported tool. The following information is provided for informational purposes only. Microsoft Product Support Services is unable to answer questions about Tweak UI.
The following quote about Tweak UI comes from the Windows 98 Power Toys Readme.txt file:

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about Windows 2000 group policy, browse to the following Microsoft Web site: