How to Show or Hide Recently Opened Items in Windows 11

Managing Recent Items via Settings

You can manage recently opened items in Windows 11 through the Settings app. This lets you choose whether to display a list of files you’ve recently accessed, helping keep your Start menu and File Explorer organized.

Windows Settings controls the recently opened items feature. You can manage this setting to show or hide recent files and folders that appear in File Explorer and the Start menu. This helps keep your workspace tidy and focused on current tasks.

1. Open the Settings app by pressing Windows key + I or by searching for it in the Start menu.

2. In the Settings app, click Personalization on the left side.

3. On the right side, click on the Start tile.

4. Locate the switch labeled Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer. Toggle this switch to On to enable it or Off to hide your recent items.

Troubleshooting: Why are my recent files not showing up in 🪟 Windows 11?

If your recent files aren’t showing up in Windows 11, it’s usually because a privacy setting is turned off or the tracking history isn’t refreshing. First, check that the option to show recent items is turned on in your privacy settings.

Recent files might not appear if privacy settings are off or if cache files have become corrupted. First, ensure the “Show recently opened items” toggle in Settings > Personalization > Start is set to On. If the toggle is already on, clear your Activity History. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history and click Clear. Clearing your Activity History resets how Windows tracks your activities.

Advanced Control: Registry Editor and PowerShell

Administrator privileges are required to use these methods for showing or hiding recently opened items in Windows 11. Editing the Windows registry, which is a database holding low-level settings, can lead to system issues if errors occur.

Using Registry Editor

Using Registry Editor

The Registry Editor provides a way to control recently opened items in Windows 11. This advanced method allows for manual hiding or showing of recent documents through specific registry value changes, offering more granular control.

To force this setting:

1. Press Windows key + R, then type regedit and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3. If the NoRecentDocsHistory key doesn’t exist, 🖱️ right-click on Explorer, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it NoRecentDocsHistory.
4. Set its value to 1 to hide recent items, or 0 to show them.

Using PowerShell

Using PowerShell

Managing Recent Items via Group Policy

Windows 11 Pro users with admin rights can manage recent items using Group Policy. This tool lets you control whether your computer keeps a history of recently opened documents for all user accounts from one place.

1. Open the Start menu, search for Edit group policy, and select it.

2. In the Local Group Policy Editor, go to: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar.

3. Find Do not keep a history of recently opened documents and double-click it. Select ‘Enabled’ to hide your history, ‘Disabled’ to show it, or ‘Not Configured’ to stick with Windows’ default settings.

Summary

Windows 11 tracks your activity to help you work faster by showing recent files in places like Jump Lists and the Recommended section. You can easily turn this feature on or off using Settings, Registry Editor, or Group Policy.