When you open Microsoft Word or click on the “File” tab, you are presented with a list of your most recently accessed documents. This “Recent” list is incredibly useful for jumping straight back into a project. By default, Word typically displays the last 50 documents you have opened. For some users, this list is too long and cluttered; for others working on dozens of micro-projects a week, 50 isn’t enough to track their workflow. Thankfully, you can easily change exactly how many recent files Microsoft Word remembers and displays.
How to Change the Number of Recent Files
This setting is controlled within Excel’s Advanced Options menu. The maximum number you can choose is 50, and the minimum is 0 (which completely disables the Recent list).
- Open Microsoft Word.
- Click on the File tab located in the top-left corner of the window.
- Look at the very bottom of the left-hand blue sidebar and click on Options. (You may need to click ‘More…’ first to see it).
- The “Word Options” dialogue box will appear on your screen. In the left-hand menu pane, click on Advanced.
- Scroll roughly halfway down the long list of settings until you locate the section titled Display.
- Look for the setting labelled Show this number of Recent Documents:.
- Change the number to your desired amount (e.g., 15) by typing it in or using the up/down arrows.
- Click the OK button at the bottom right of the window to save your changes.
How to Pin Important Documents
If you are reducing the number of recent files to keep the list clean, you might worry about losing track of a highly important document that you use every day.
To prevent this, you can “Pin” a document to the top of the list permanently. Click File > Open, hover your mouse over the name of an important document in the Recent list, and click the small Pin icon that appears on the right side. Pinned documents will remain at the top of the list indefinitely, regardless of how many new files you open.