How to Show or Hide Recently Opened Items in Windows 11

Managing Recent Items via Settings

You can easily control whether Windows 11 shows your recently opened items directly from the Settings app, helping keep your Start menu and File Explorer tidy by deciding if you want to see a list of files you’ve recently worked on.

Windows makes it possible to control this feature through the main Settings app. Here’s how:

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 often because a privacy setting is turned off or the tracking history needs a refresh, so double-checking that the option to show recent items is on is the first step.

If your recent files aren’t showing up, it’s often because privacy settings are off or cache files are corrupted. First, ensure the toggle in Settings > Personalization > Start is set to On. If it is already on, try clearing your Activity History. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history and click Clear. This resets how Windows tracks your activities.

Advanced Control: Registry Editor and PowerShell

*Note: These methods require administrator privileges. Be careful when editing the registry, as mistakes can cause system problems.*

Using Registry Editor

For more control over your recently opened items in Windows 11, you can use the Registry Editor, which lets you manually change a setting to hide or show recent documents by editing specific values.

You can force this setting using the registry. Press Windows key + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. If the key doesn’t exist, right-click Explorer, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it NoRecentDocsHistory. Set its value to 1 to hide recent items, or 0 to show them.

Using PowerShell

Using PowerShell

Open PowerShell as an administrator. Run this command to disable recent items: Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer' -Name 'NoRecentDocsHistory' -Value 1. This achieves the same result as the registry edit but via the command line.

Managing Recent Items via Group Policy

If you’re using a professional version of Windows 11 with administrator rights, you can manage recent items using Group Policy, which allows you to centrally control whether your computer keeps a history of recently opened documents across user accounts.

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, and you can easily turn this feature on or off using Settings, Registry Editor, or Group Policy.