Hide Recent Documents or Show More

SUMMARY: Configure Excel 2010 to hide the list of recent documents for privacy, or show more of them.

As with other Office 2010 applications, Microsoft Excel 2010 keeps a list of recent workbooks, allowing you to directly access frequently-edited documents without having to navigate your computer or network drives. If you have workbooks located in a variety of locations, this Recent list may prove very useful.

While Excel 2010 by default displays the last 25 documents, if you work on many workbooks you may want to increase this number up to 50. On the other hand, if you are worried about privacy you may wish to disable this list altogether.

1. Select the “File” tab in the Ribbon.
2. The Microsoft Office Backstage View appears. Click the “Options” button.
(Or instead of steps 1 and 2, press Alt + T, then the letter O.)
3. The “Excel Options” dialog box appears. Click “Advanced” in the left pane.
4. Underneath “Display” (you may have to scroll down), next to “Show this number of Recent Documents” enter a number from 0 to 50, 0 to disable this list.

Configuring Excel 2010 not to show any recent documents

5. Click “OK” on the bottom-right of the dialog box to close it.