How to Display, Use, and Clear "My Recent Documents" on the Start Menu in Windows XP

The My Recent Documents folder on the Windows XP Start menu displays a list of files and documents that you most recently used. This article describes how to display, use, and clear the My Recent Documents folder.

To Display the My Recent Documents Folder

To display the My Recent Documents folder on the Start menu:

1. Right-click Start, and then click Properties. Or, if the Start menu is already displayed, right-click an empty area of the Start menu, and then click Properties.
2. Click Customize.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Recent documents, click to select the List my most recently opened documents check box, click OK, and then click OK. The next time you click Start, the My Recent Documents command is displayed on the Start menu.

To Open a Recently Used Document

To open a document that you recently used, Click Start, point to My Recent Documents, and then click the item that want to open.

To Clear the Contents of the My Recent Documents Folder

To have us clear the contents of the My Recent Documents folder for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.



Notes

• This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
• If you are not using the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD and then run it on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Let me fix it myself

To clear the My Recent Documents list, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Start, and then click Properties. Or, if the Start menu is already displayed, right-click an empty area of the Start menu, and then click Properties.
2. Click Customize.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Recent documents, click Clear List, click OK, and then click OK. Your most recently used documents are removed from the My Recent Documents folder. Note that this action does not delete the documents from your hard disk.

Troubleshooting

Some programs cannot add items to the My Recent Documents folder. In this case, the document that you recently used is not listed. If you want to open a document that is not in the My Recent Documents list, click Search on the Start menu to search for the item.

For additional information about the Start menu in Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Did this fix the problem?

• Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus) .
• We would appreciate your feedback. To provide feedback or to report any issues with this solution, please leave a comment on the "Fix it for me (http://blogs.technet.com/fixit4me/) " blog or send us an email (mailto:fixit4me@microsoft.com?Subject=KB) .