The Recent Items function of Windows 10 and 11 is very practical for finding files used more or less recently in the blink of an eye. But it is also a plague for confidentiality. Here’s how to master it.
Recently used a file on your PC, but can’t remember where it was saved? No need to go on an adventure exploring each folder in your storage space, especially if you have several disks or USB keys. Windows has a handy feature: Recent Items. The system keeps track of all open files in your Windows session. A kind of large register in which he carefully records, among other information, the type of file in question and its modification date. What easily get your hands on a file closed a little hastily or an older item without going through the Windows search engine which, if it improves over the versions, is sometimes a little capricious.
However, if this function proves to be very practical on a daily basis, but for confidentiality, we will come back. Thus, if you are not the only one using your Windows session, anyone can know the files you have opened and modified without being an expert or having to type any command line. In this case, it is therefore better to make sure that Windows is content to show what you want to leave visible. Here’s how to tame the system’s Recent Items feature.
Recently opened files appear in two different places: the Windows Start menu and File Explorer.
► Simply click on the menu To start up. If you left the default settings, all recently opened documents and files are displayed at the bottom of the menu pane To start up.
► If this is not the case, a small adjustment is necessary. Check out our handy sheet to show the items you want in the Start menu.
► The other place to show recently opened files is File Explorer through Quick Access. Open Explorer (with the shortcut Win + E for example) and click Welcome, at the top of the left column. L’Quick access giving access to the main files of the user account, is revealed. Scroll down the contents of the window. In the section Recent the last opened files are displayed. We can count more than sixty.
► However, it is not necessarily easy to find what you are looking for. The section Recent does not offer sorting, in particular by date. However, if you know what type of file you are looking for, click on the menu Filter at the top of the Explorer window. You can then choose to display a certain category of file (Word documents, Excel, PDFs, Images, etc.).
► To take advantage of more sorting options, and perform a classification in chronological order for example, you must proceed differently. Windows stores recent items in a specific folder. In the File Explorer search field, enter the following path, replacing Username by the name of your Windows session and validate by Hall.
C:UsersNomUtilisateurAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsRecent
To note : to make typing easier for you, Windows systematically offers after each a variety of possibilities corresponding to the first letter you type. Just highlight the one you are interested in and continue typing .
► The File Explorer now displays the list of recent items. Here you can use the function To sort at the top of the window to operate a classification by date for example.
If you want one or more files not to appear in Quick Access recent items in File Explorer to preserve some privacy, a simple manipulation is enough.
► Right-click on the item you want to see disappear from the list of recently opened files in the section Recent of Quick access. From the context menu, choose Remove from recent. The file will not be deleted from the computer but will no longer appear in the list. Until you workman again.
► You can also hide the list of recent items both in the menu To start up only in File Explorer. To do this, read the detailed advice in our practical sheet.