The Open tab on the File menu shows your Recent files across devices and includes links to common locations you use to store files.
Open an Office file for Windows
Open your Office app, select File > Open, select the Open icon, or press CTRL+O.
Recent files
The Recent list shows the files that you opened recently from any of your devices. If this list gets too long, you can remove files from it. Just right-click (or press and hold) the file name and then select Remove from list. You can also select Clear non-favorite items to remove all files that you haven't selected as favorites.
To make other changes to the Recent list, see Customize the list of recently used files. If you don't use the list of Recent files, and you'd rather jump straight into browsing folders, press Ctrl+F12 to access the Open dialog box directly.
Shared files
Select Shared with Me to open files others have shared with you.
OneDrive or SharePoint files
To access files from OneDrive or SharePoint libraries, select the location you want and browse to your file.
Local files
Select This PC to open local files, including removable drives.
Files on the cloud
To add a new cloud location select Add a Place.
Tip
If you want to bypass File > Open and always use the Open dialog box, do this: Select File > Options > Save, and then select the Don't show the Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts check box. Next, close and reopen any open Microsoft 365 applications. Note that this change only affects what you see when you press CTRL+O to access the Open Files dialog box.
Search for your file
To find a document on your computer but aren't sure where it is, select Browse. Select Browse to open the file browser and search for your file. In the Open dialog box appears, type a whole or partial file name, or text that may be in the file in the Search box at the top right and press enter. A list of matching documents will appear for you to choose from.
