- Microsoft Word displays 50 of your recently opened documents under the Recent list.
- You can remove specific entries from the Recent list in Word by right-clicking them and selecting Remove from list.
- To disable the Recent list in Word, head to Options > Advanced and set the Show this number of Recent Documents to 0.
Remove Specific or All Entries From Recent Documents List in Microsoft Word
If you only want to remove a few documents from the Recent list, go to the Home tab and scroll to the Recent list. Locate the document you want to remove, right-click on it, and select Remove from list .
You can repeat this step to remove other entries from Word’s Recent list. It’s worth noting that removing an entry from the Recent list also removes it from the Open tab within Word.
If you want to remove all entries from the Recent list in Word, switch to the Open tab. Under the Documents tab, right-click any entry and select Clear unpinned items .
Disable Recent Documents List in Microsoft Word
By default, Microsoft Word displays 50 of your recently opened documents under the Recent list. If you prefer, disable the Recent document list entirely in Word, eliminating the need to manually clear entries. Here’s how.
Step 1: Open Microsoft Word and select Options at the bottom-left corner.
Step 2: In the Advanced tab, scroll down to the Display section and locate the Show this number of Recent Documents option.
Step 3: Change the value to 0 (zero) to disable the Recent list and hit OK to save changes.
Bonus: Clear Recently Used Documents From Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer on Windows
Even if you disable the Recent list in Word, your recently opened documents will still appear when you right-click on the Word icon in the taskbar or File Explorer’s Recent list.
You can remove specific entries from the Start menu, Jump Lists, or File Explorer by right-clicking on them and selecting Remove from this list .
Alternatively, you can also disable the recently opened items list in Windows. To do so, use these steps:
Step 1: Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app and head to Personalization > Start .
Step 2: Toggle off the Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer option.
Once disabled, Windows will no longer display your recently opened items in the Start menu , Jump Lists, and File Explorer’s recent list.
