How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a list of
every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original document has
long gone.
Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program files, the
registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
uninstalling/reinstalling.
Help, please.

Open the folder at Documents and Settings\your username\Recent\ and
delete all the shortcuts there. (You will need to change Folder Options
to Show Hidden if you have not done so previously)

markjoy wrote:

> How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a list of
> every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original document has
> long gone.
> Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program files, the
> registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
> uninstalling/reinstalling.
> Help, please.

There isn't one. There's a "my recent documents" containing one file
"desktop.ini" and thats it.
There are "recent'' folders in the administrator accounts; they're both empty.
My own account is an admin acct too.

"Bob I" wrote:

> Open the folder at Documents and Settings\your username\Recent\ and
> delete all the shortcuts there. (You will need to change Folder Options
> to Show Hidden if you have not done so previously)
>
> markjoy wrote:
>
> > How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a list of
> > every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original document has
> > long gone.
> > Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program files, the
> > registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
> > uninstalling/reinstalling.
> > Help, please.
>
>

It's an issue with the application, not with Windows. Those File menu
entries are found in the Registry as MRU entries (MostRecentlyUsed.) You'll
have to use REGEDT32 to locate them (search on one or more of the filenames
you want to get rid of.) Look, also, to see if the application has any
options to not save MRUs, or a way to delete them in a more elegant manner.

Or run AdAware. It flags MRUs. Easy to delete them using AdAware. Also easy
to stay safe while doing so.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2DC2465A-C0B9-4222-99D8-(E-Mail Removed)...
> There isn't one. There's a "my recent documents" containing one file
> "desktop.ini" and thats it.
> There are "recent'' folders in the administrator accounts; they're both
> empty.
> My own account is an admin acct too.
>
> "Bob I" wrote:
>
>> Open the folder at Documents and Settings\your username\Recent\ and
>> delete all the shortcuts there. (You will need to change Folder Options
>> to Show Hidden if you have not done so previously)
>>
>> markjoy wrote:
>>
>> > How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a
>> > list of
>> > every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original
>> > document has
>> > long gone.
>> > Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program
>> > files, the
>> > registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
>> > uninstalling/reinstalling.
>> > Help, please.
>>
>>

Thanks Gary.
Been racking the brain a bit, think I recall deleting the "recent" folder
from c:\documents and settings\(my user name\ long time back, during a clean
up. That was probably a bit dumb. Any way i can restore it? If I try to
create a new folder here titled recent, it won't let me..."cannot use this
title, it is already in use" or something like that.
I've searched the registry with the title of one of the documents, nothing,
then searched again just using the file exrtension .doc (Several entries, of
course, maybe 20-30), nothing.
I've looked through all the options in the application, nothing. Nothing
remotely obvious, anyway.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

> It's an issue with the application, not with Windows. Those File menu
> entries are found in the Registry as MRU entries (MostRecentlyUsed.) You'll
> have to use REGEDT32 to locate them (search on one or more of the filenames
> you want to get rid of.) Look, also, to see if the application has any
> options to not save MRUs, or a way to delete them in a more elegant manner.
>
> Or run AdAware. It flags MRUs. Easy to delete them using AdAware. Also easy
> to stay safe while doing so.
>
> --
> Gary S. Terhune
> MS-MVP Shell/User
> www.grystmill.com
>
> "markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:2DC2465A-C0B9-4222-99D8-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > There isn't one. There's a "my recent documents" containing one file
> > "desktop.ini" and thats it.
> > There are "recent'' folders in the administrator accounts; they're both
> > empty.
> > My own account is an admin acct too.
> >
> > "Bob I" wrote:
> >
> >> Open the folder at Documents and Settings\your username\Recent\ and
> >> delete all the shortcuts there. (You will need to change Folder Options
> >> to Show Hidden if you have not done so previously)
> >>
> >> markjoy wrote:
> >>
> >> > How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a
> >> > list of
> >> > every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original
> >> > document has
> >> > long gone.
> >> > Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program
> >> > files, the
> >> > registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
> >> > uninstalling/reinstalling.
> >> > Help, please.
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

Also ran AdAware, including ADS, deleted all found, no change.

Which version of Word Viewer are you using?

For Word Viewer 2003, the file names MRU is stored in the registry, as a REG_BINARY value named "Settings"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Wordview\Data

Deleting the "Settings" value erases the File names MRU in Word Viewer 2003. The registry branch may vary for different versions of Word Viewer.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:BFF5D394-3985-4D34-A68F-(E-Mail Removed)...
How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a list of
every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original document has
long gone.
Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program files, the
registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
uninstalling/reinstalling.
Help, please.

I don't have your answer regarding the Recent folder, but Ramesh probably
has the answer to the MRU issue. Being stored in a binary value would hide
them from a normal search. Does his idea work?
--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:59E91A3A-7673-48A3-8B9E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks Gary.
> Been racking the brain a bit, think I recall deleting the "recent" folder
> from c:\documents and settings\(my user name\ long time back, during a
> clean
> up. That was probably a bit dumb. Any way i can restore it? If I try to
> create a new folder here titled recent, it won't let me..."cannot use this
> title, it is already in use" or something like that.
> I've searched the registry with the title of one of the documents,
> nothing,
> then searched again just using the file exrtension .doc (Several entries,
> of
> course, maybe 20-30), nothing.
> I've looked through all the options in the application, nothing. Nothing
> remotely obvious, anyway.
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
>
>> It's an issue with the application, not with Windows. Those File menu
>> entries are found in the Registry as MRU entries (MostRecentlyUsed.)
>> You'll
>> have to use REGEDT32 to locate them (search on one or more of the
>> filenames
>> you want to get rid of.) Look, also, to see if the application has any
>> options to not save MRUs, or a way to delete them in a more elegant
>> manner.
>>
>> Or run AdAware. It flags MRUs. Easy to delete them using AdAware. Also
>> easy
>> to stay safe while doing so.
>>
>> --
>> Gary S. Terhune
>> MS-MVP Shell/User
>> www.grystmill.com
>>
>> "markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:2DC2465A-C0B9-4222-99D8-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > There isn't one. There's a "my recent documents" containing one file
>> > "desktop.ini" and thats it.
>> > There are "recent'' folders in the administrator accounts; they're both
>> > empty.
>> > My own account is an admin acct too.
>> >
>> > "Bob I" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Open the folder at Documents and Settings\your username\Recent\ and
>> >> delete all the shortcuts there. (You will need to change Folder
>> >> Options
>> >> to Show Hidden if you have not done so previously)
>> >>
>> >> markjoy wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a
>> >> > list of
>> >> > every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original
>> >> > document has
>> >> > long gone.
>> >> > Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program
>> >> > files, the
>> >> > registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
>> >> > uninstalling/reinstalling.
>> >> > Help, please.
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>

Brilliant, thanks Gary and Ramesh, deleting that reg value did the job.
Now if you know how I can re-create "recent" in the indicated location, I
think I'll be back to normal, or thereabouts. Is it possible that the system
is using the "my recent documents" folder as its "recent" folder?
BTW, its a standalone version of wordviewer, 2003, downloaded from
microsoft. Don't have the full office program, just wordviewer, excel, and
powerpoint, all 2003.
Thanks again, Mark.
"Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:

> Which version of Word Viewer are you using?
>
> For Word Viewer 2003, the file names MRU is stored in the registry, as a REG_BINARY value named "Settings"
>
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Wordview\Data
>
> Deleting the "Settings" value erases the File names MRU in Word Viewer 2003. The registry branch may vary for different versions of Word Viewer.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
> Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
>
>
> "markjoy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:BFF5D394-3985-4D34-A68F-(E-Mail Removed)...
> How to do this? Every time I open word viewer and click on "file", a list of
> every document it has ever opened appears, even if the original document has
> long gone.
> Where is this info stored? I've tried looking through the program files, the
> registry, and the .dat files, to no avail. Even tried
> uninstalling/reinstalling.
> Help, please.
>

Actually, just found a bit of info about "recent" and "my recent documents"
here

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_shell_folders.htm

that indicates this might be a normal way for the XP OS to present them
within a user account, didn't understand all of it, but that's how it seems.
Am I on the right track, there? After all, I'm not 100% sure I had deleted
that folder...it was several months ago...
Thanks for helping.