How to Hide Recent Files and Folders in Windows 11

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This summary discusses how to disable or hide recently opened items in Windows 11. Users can navigate to the System Settings page, access ‘Personalization’, and then choose ‘Start’. In this menu, they can toggle off tracking for recently opened items. This setting change doesn’t impact web browsing history or other online activities.

This post shows students and new users steps to disable or hide recently used items, including files and folders in Windows 11.

By default, Windows tracks some of your recent activities, including files and folders accessed, recently used apps, and others added to the “Recommended” section on the Start menu.

Hiding recent files and folders in Windows 11 can be helpful for users who are concerned about their privacy and do not want their recent activities tracked or displayed in the Start menu’s Recommended section. It can also be useful for those who share their computer with others and do not want their recent activities visible to others using the same device.

By disabling this feature, recent files and folders will not be displayed in the Recommended section of the Start menu, and users can keep their recent activities private.

Disable recently opened items

To disable or turn off recently used items tracking on Windows 11, click on Start and go to Settings, as shown in the image below.

In the Systems Settings page, locate the sidebar on the left and click “Personalization.” In the options to the right of the window, scroll down and select “Start.”

On the “Start” settings page, toggle the switch next to “Show recommended files in Start, recent files in File Explorer, and items in Jump Lists” to “Off.”

That will prevent Windows 11 from remembering recent items in the Recommended section.

This will not affect your web browsing history and other web activities. You must turn off tracking in the browser on the browser settings page.

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to disable or turn off recently used items in Windows 11. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.

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5 responses to “How to Hide Recent Files and Folders in Windows 11”

  1. Jay Avatar
    Jay

    Thanks! I appreciate your time for posting this information.

  2. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    How do I do this from a batch file?

  3. pk Avatar
    pk

    thank you, it saved my time

  4. paul Avatar
    paul

    PS thanks very much this had been bugging me for nearly a year.

  5. Buddy Eckles Avatar
    Buddy Eckles

    Thanks for your help.

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