Windows 7 – Display ‘Recent Items’ in the start menu

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Unlike previous versions of Windows, by default Windows 7 does not have a ‘Recent Items’ (previously known as ‘Recent Documents’ in Windows XP) option in the Start Menu.

This menu option allows users to view a small list documents they have previously opened (to access the full list, see Windows 7 – ‘Recent Items’ folder location).

The following steps detail how to enable the menu option in Windows 7:

  1. Right-click in an empty area of the taskbar and select ‘Properties’
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  3. Select the ‘Start Menu’ tab
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  5. Scroll down until you see ‘Recent Items’ and place a tick next to it
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  7. Click OK and again OK to save the changes and close the open windows
  8. The start menu now has a ‘Recent Items’ option, displaying the last 15 documents opened by the currently logged on user.
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