Understanding MRU Files

MRU is an acronym for most recently used. It describes a feature of Word that allows you to quickly open your most recently used documents. These file names are displayed by Word when you click on the Office button (Word 2007) or at the bottom of the File menu (older versions of Word).

When you first install Word, it displays the four most recently used documents in the MRU list. If you want to change the number of documents remembered by Word for the MRU list, you can do so by following these steps if you are using Word 2007:

1. Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
3. Scroll through the list of available options until you see the Display section. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. Make sure the Show This Number of Recent Documents option is set to a value between 1 and 50. This signifies how many MRU files should be remembered by Word.
5. Click the OK button.

If you are using an older version of Word you can follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Click on the General tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Recently Used File List check box is selected. (If it is not selected, then no MRU files are maintained by Word.)
4. For the Entries value, specify a value between 1 and 9. This signifies how many MRU files should be remembered by Word.
5. Click on the OK button.