Deleting MRU Entries

The MRU refers to "most recently used," which is the list of files you have used recently in Word. The list appears when you click the Office button (Word 2007) or at the bottom of the File menu drop-down (older versions of Word.) This file list is a wonderful aid most of the time, but is also very revealing. Everyone who uses your computer knows the name of the last file (or files) you've been working on. You may not always like this.

There are several ways you can delete file names from the MRU list, and the method you choose will depend largely on the version of Word you are using and whether you want to delete all of the list or some of it. If you are using Word 2007 and you want to delete all the entries in the list, try these steps:

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.
4. Make sure the Show This Number of Recent Documents option is set to 0.
5. Click the OK button.
6. Restart Word.
7. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to again display the correct portion of the Word Options dialog box.
8. Set the Show This Number of Recent Documents option to reflect the number of MRU files you want displayed.
9. Click OK.

Now if you go and display the MRU list, it should be cleared out. You can accomplish the same thing (getting rid of all the MRU entries) in earlier versions of Word by following these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Click on the General tab.
3. Make sure the Recently Used File List check box is cleared.
4. Restart Word.
5. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to again display the General tab of the Options dialog box.
6. Select the Recently Used File List check box.
7. Adjust the Entries value so that it reflects the number of MRU files you want to keep track of.
8. Click on the OK button.

If you want to get rid of just a few of the MRU entries (so they don't show up in the list any more), things get a little more complex. A sure-fire way to get rid of entries is to edit the Windows Registry. That may sound scary to some people, but it need not be. Just make sure you are careful and that you back up your Registry if you are prone to explorational errors. (How you back up the Registry depends on your version of Windows. A good Windows reference guide will include the desired information.)

You make changes in the Registry by using a program called regedit. If you are using Windows Vista, follow these steps to start the program:

1. Make sure you are out of Word completely.
2. Click the Start menu at the bottom-left of your screen. Windows displays a whole bunch of options.
3. In the box that says Start Search, type regedit and press Enter.

If you are using Windows XP, follow these steps to start regedit:

1. Get out of Word completely.
2. Choose Run from the Start menu. Windows displays the Run dialog box.
3. In the Open box type regedit.
4. Click on the OK button.

Regardless of the version of Word you are using, you should now use the control in the Registry Editor to locate the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\File MRU

You should note that the portion of the key that denotes the version of Office (12.0 in this case) will vary, depending on the version of Word you are using. When the key is open, the right side of the Registry Editor shows all the files in the MRU list. Simply delete the files you don't want to appear in the list. (Selecting one of the file names and clicking the Delete key will do the trick.) Get out of the Registry Editor and restart Word; the MRU list should reflect your changes.

If you don't want to edit the Registry, you can try these general steps in Word 2007:

1. Click the Office button. You should see a list of options and the MRU list.
2. At the right of each file you want kept on the MRU list, click the pushpin icon. This "pins" the document to the list.
3. Count the number of files that you pinned.
4. Click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
5. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
6. Scroll through the list of available options until you see the Display section.
7. Make sure the Show This Number of Recent Documents option is set to the same number you counted in step 3.
8. Click the OK button.
9. Restart Word.

At this point you should only see in the MRU list the files that you previously pinned; all the others are gone. You can now unpin any files you want, and you could adjust upward the number of MRU files that should be maintained by Word.

If you are using an older version of Word there is also a handy trick you can use to delete items from the MRU list. In Word press Alt+Ctrl+- (that last part is a dash, right next to the 0 key, not the minus key on the keypad). The mouse pointer changes into a thick bar. Use the bar pointer to click on the File menu, then click on the MRU entry you wish to remove from the list. The entry is removed, and the mouse pointer changes back to normal. This does not delete the actual file, it only removes the entry from the MRU list.

You should note that this tip is very powerful. Be careful that you don't select any other menu item except one of the MRU entries. If you do, the menu item is removed from the menu.

If you decide, after pressing Alt+Ctrl+-, that you don't want to delete anything, then press Esc once. The deletion mode is exited, and the mouse pointer returns to normal.

For those who need to remove files from the MRU list on a regular basis, you may want to consider using a free add-in created by Word MVP Greg Maxey. You can find a complete description of the add-in at this location:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Recent_Files_List_Editor.htm