How to Disable the Windows 10 ‘Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar’ Option

The Privacy Risk of Jump Lists

Windows 10 features a productivity tool called “Jump Lists.” When you right-click an application icon on your taskbar (like Microsoft Word or File Explorer), a menu pops up showing a list of files or folders you have recently opened with that specific program. You can click any item in this list to instantly reopen it.

While convenient, this is a glaring privacy issue on a shared computer or in an office environment. If you step away from your desk, anyone who right-clicks the Word icon on your taskbar can immediately see the exact names of the last ten documents you were working on, even if those documents are saved deep within a secure folder. To prevent the operating system from broadcasting your recent file history directly from the taskbar, you must disable the Jump List tracking.

How to Disable Recent Items on the Taskbar

You can turn off this feature via the Personalization settings.

1. Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I).
2. In the Settings menu, click on Personalization.
3. In the left-hand navigation pane, select Start.
4. Scroll down to the very bottom of the right-hand pane.
5. Look for the toggle switch labelled Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar (In Windows 11, this is similarly named “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer”).
6. Toggle the switch to the Off position.

Windows will instantly clear the history for all existing Jump Lists. From now on, when you right-click an app on the taskbar, the menu will only show the option to open the program, unpin it, or close the window. Your recent document history will remain entirely private.