recently used file list in file menu not working and unreadable.

[erk]

two problems, the first spawned the other, and both have taken hours
of time already (mostly in fruitless research) to try and remedy:

First problem: the recently used file list in the file menu is displaying
the files by their whole "pathname" and not merely by their filenames.
As new system architecture pretty much requires me to save things in
certain nested places, this is INSANE. the names are too long, and I
often have difficulty identifying my files. Previous versions of excel
seem to have been able to only display the filename.. I've been
searching for how to do it in Excel X for months.

Second problem: while trying to fix this, I recently discovered I can edit
the properties of these items in the file menu using the customise...
command. I did so. *NOW* I've gotten myself into a problem where
the top two items display the incorrect filenames and never change.
trying to reset the list by turning it off in preferences and then back on
does not reset these first two items.

I need ideas. Can anyone help?? Thanks in advance. -erk.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Is Excel X, Excel XP?

I like this. When I have two files with the same name in two different folders
that have been opened recently, I can open the one I want.

You may not have noticed that the path gets dropped for files that are in the
current folder. So File|Open, traverse to your most used common folder and hit
Cancel.

Then take a look under File for the names.

(I hated the older version when I'd open the wrong workbook.)