Recent Documents

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

I use Start -> Recent Documents a lot, as I use many different documents during the course of a working day. However, very often the doc I am looking for is already gone from the list, replaced by some stuff I don't want. So, two questions

1. How can I increase the number of recent documents (currently 15)?
   
2. How can I specify what type of docs I want in there? Currently I get GIF, JPG, SQL, etc. docs in there, pushing my TXT and DOC files out.
   

[spikeychris]

This will fix problem one and two

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

This will fix problem one and two

Thanks for the tip. The registry tweak fixed number 1, but I can't find the 2nd one. I even downloaded the WinGuides Tweak Manager, but couldn't find anything in there (just "Clear Recent Documents When Windows Exits").

[Boris]

This is probably of no help ?

It works on 98/ME/2k

See only your type of file

The Documents menu may show file types that you don't want to see. For example, you may not want the menu to list every graphic you download from the Web or every.zip file you open. Of course, you can right-click any item on the Documents menu and choose Delete, but you can also get rid of multiple files at once by making a shortcut that wipes out useless file types and leaves more room for the kinds of files you want to see. Right-click the empty area inside a folder or on the desktop, and choose New, Shortcut.

In the Create Shortcut wizard's first box, type a line such as command.com /c del c:\windows\recent\*zip*.lnk (see Figure 4). Change the path above to match the location of your own Recent folder, and then replace 'zip' with the extension of the file type you want to filter out of the Documents menu. In Windows 2000, change 'command.com' to cmd.exe. Select Next, give the shortcut a name, and click Finish.

Unfortunately, this trick works only when the extension of the file type you want to delete is revealed. Open any Explorer or folder window and choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options, depending on your version of Windows. Click the File Types tab and select the file type you intend to filter routinely. Then click Edit (in Windows 9 x) or Advanced (in Windows 2000 or Me). Check Always show extension, click OK, and close the Folder Options dialog box.

Now any time you want to remove that type of file from your Documents menu, simply launch the shortcut you just created.

To make Windows clear those files automatically every time you log in, place the shortcut in the Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder.

You can also use the Task Scheduler or Scheduled Tasks folder to delete the items whenever you want.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

This is probably of no help ?

Thanks; not exactly what I was looking for. But if someone goes out of their way to make up such a complicated procedure, it means that there is probably no way to achieve what I want.

Or is there...? Not every file that is opened goes into the Recent Documents folder. Only files that Windows regards as "documents". This is of course determined by the file type, and I don't think that this list is hard-coded in Windows. Especially since some non-Microsoft filetypes also appear in the recent list, such as PDF or ZIP.

I will do some research.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Found the following info in another forum

There is no option in the UI to accomplish this. But can be done by modifying the EditFlags registry value.

FILETYPEATTRIBUTEFLAGS:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....ributeflags.asp

FTA_NoRecentDocs (0x00100000)

Prohibits the addition of members of this file class to the Recent Documents

folder.

It's a bit complicated, to be honest. I wonder if anybody has ever developed a tool to set these EditFlags values. Maybe I should write one and get rich...? Naah, I like freeware...

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Not that complicated, actually, but still some work...

Added that EditFlags value 0x00100000 to my "worst offenders" cfile, giffile, hfile, hlpfile, jpegfile, and now these filetypes are no longer added to my Recent Documents.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Update: One of the following procedures should be used to modify the number of Recent Documents in the Start menu.

• launch gpedit.msc
  
• navigate down User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer
  
• right-click Maximum number of recent documents
  
• select Properties -> Enabled -> adjust Maximum number of recent documents
  
• close Group Policy Editor and reboot Windows
  

---

• launch regedit *
  
• navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
  
• create new REG_DWORD 'MaxRecentDocs' (if it does not exist already)
  
• right-click on MacRecentDocs -> Modify -> adjust the value to the desired number of recent documents (select decimal or hexadecimal number)
  

*) Please use the usual precautions before manually editing the registry; i.e. registry backup!

P.S. The Recent Documents list may become empty in the process of enlarging it.