How to Clear Recent Documents in Excel
Are you looking to clear your recent documents in Excel to maintain privacy or simply to declutter your document list? Whether you’re using Excel on a Windows or Mac computer, clearing recent documents is a straightforward process. In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to clear recent documents in Excel, ensuring that your document list is up-to-date and secure.
Clearing Recent Documents in Excel on Windows
If you’re using Excel on a Windows computer, follow these steps to clear recent documents:
1. Open Excel and click on the “File” tab at the top-left corner of the screen.
2. In the left-hand pane, click on “Options.”
3. A new window will appear. Navigate to the “Advanced” category on the left side of the window.
4. Scroll down to the “Display options for this workbook” section and look for the “Show this number of recent files” option.
5. Enter the desired number of recent files you want to display (or set it to 0 to clear all recent documents).
6. Click “OK” to save your changes.
Clearing Recent Documents in Excel on Mac
For users on Mac computers, the process is slightly different:
1. Open Excel and click on the “Excel” menu at the top-left corner of the screen.
2. Select “Preferences” from the dropdown menu.
3. In the Preferences window, click on the “General” tab.
4. Look for the “Show” option under the “Recent Files” section and set it to the number of recent files you want to display (or set it to 0 to clear all recent documents).
5. Click “OK” to save your changes.
Additional Tips
– If you want to clear all recent documents at once, you can also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + P” (Windows) or “Cmd + Shift + P” (Mac) to open the “Options” or “Preferences” window directly.
– Clearing recent documents does not delete the files themselves. It only removes them from the document list in Excel.
– If you want to ensure that your recent documents are completely removed, you can manually delete the files from your computer’s recent documents folder.
By following these simple steps, you can easily clear recent documents in Excel and maintain a clean and organized document list.
