How to clear the Most Recently Used list (MRU) list in Office programs

This article describes how to clear the Most Recently Used list (MRU) for the Microsoft Office programs listed at the beginning of this article. To clear the MRU, follow the steps for the program that you are using.

Microsoft Access, Excel, PhotoDraw, PowerPoint, and Word

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
2. Clear the Recently used files check box, and then click OK.
3. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
4. Select the Recently used files check box, and then click OK.

Publisher

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit and then press ENTER. The Registry Editor starts.
3. Delete one of the following registry keys, depending on which version of Publisher you are using:
   • Publisher 2000:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Publisher\Recent File List
   • Publisher 2002:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Publisher\Recent File List
   • Publisher 2003:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Publisher\Recent File List

Photo Editor

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Start the Registry Editor.
2. Delete the LastFile# and the corresponding LastType# keys in the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Photo Editor\3.0\Microsoft Photo Editor

FrontPage

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Start the Registry Editor.
2. Delete the following registry keys:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent File List
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent Page List
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent Web List

Automate the Process of Clearing the MRU

All the registry keys that you delete by the methods listed earlier in this article are re-created the next time that you start the program. If you intend to periodically clear the Most Recently Used list, you can partially automate the process. To do so, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Start the Registry Editor.
2. Clear the Most Recently Used list by following the steps for your program.
3. Click the parent key. For example, if you intend to clear the Most Recently Used list for Photo Editor, and you delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Photo Editor\4.0\Microsoft Photo Editor key, click the following key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Photo Editor\4.0
4. On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
5. Type a name for the registry file in the File name box, click Selected branch, and then click Save.
6. Periodically apply the registry file to clear the Most Recently Used list. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Start the Registry Editor.
   2. On the Registry menu, click Import Registry File.
   3. Click to select the registry file, and then click Open.