Excel "recently used files" setting is greyed out. How to use it?

P

pinmaster

Goto Tools/Options......under the General tab select "Recently used file
list" and ajust to suit your need.....up to 9 entries.

HTH
JG
 
R

Rusty35

I have the same problem with all my Office programs - and I do not use TWEAK.
I have run the otherrecommended options (normal.dot, registry fix etc)
without success.

List Recent Documents is ticked on Start Menu options as well - but nothing
is happening there either!

Any suggestions?
 
D

Dave Peterson

I don't have a guess on why you can't change this, but if you feel comfortable
changing the registry, you can try this:

I use xl2003, so this version number could change for you (it's 11 in xl2003).

Close excel
windows start button|run|Regedit

Backup the registry before you start (and be careful).

HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Excel\Options
change: Option5 to 885
and
change: DefFileMRU to 9
 
B

bretsharon

Dear Dave, I have tried the registry fix you mention, but this doesn't
work. Off topic, doesn't restore system work for the registry change? I'd
much rather use that, than getting into the registry. Now, the long version
of the fix.

Try instead: --------------->> How do I restore the Recent Documents
function? (Office XP/Office 2003) When you click the File menu in Word and
other Office XP or Office 2003 applications, you should see a list of
documents you accessed recently. If you don't see a list, it could be because
you instructed Word to not display any recent documents, but if you did
enable the function and the documents don't appear, you might be encountering
a bug.

In one of your Office programs, open the Tools menu, click Options, and
choose the General tab. If the Recently Used File List option isn't selected,
try selecting it. If you can't select it, you need to delete a Registry value
to get it back. (Don't forget to back up your system before you tweak the
Registry.)

Close Word, open Registry Editor (refer to the previous tip for these
steps), and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT
\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\POLICIES\EXPLORER. In the right pane, right-click
the NoRecentDocsHistory value, click Delete, and click Yes to confirm the
deletion. Restart Word and return to the General tab in the Options dialog
box. You should now be able to select the Recently Used File List option, as
well as the number of recent documents you'd like to see each time you click
the File menu.
 
D

Dave Peterson

I would think that system restore would restore whatever settings were there
when the last "picture of the system" was taken. So maybe it'll work, maybe
not.

It sounds like you got it fixed. Looking at that fix, is there any chance that
you used TweakUI. I don't use it nowadays, but I seem to recall a tab that had
some kind of "paranoia" settings. (I _think_ it was TweakUI--but it could have
been a different utility.)

Is there a chance you used that and turned off the MRU?

I just loaded TweakUI for winXP.

Unert the Explorer category (main category--not any subcategory), there's an
option to "maintain document history". The description says that this controls
the Documents list (under the Windows Start button) and the MRU under many
applications.

Paranoia settings must have come from a different utility (or an earlier version
of TweakUI).
Dear Dave, I have tried the registry fix you mention, but this doesn't
work. Off topic, doesn't restore system work for the registry change? I'd
much rather use that, than getting into the registry. Now, the long version
of the fix.

Try instead: --------------->> How do I restore the Recent Documents
function? (Office XP/Office 2003) When you click the File menu in Word and
other Office XP or Office 2003 applications, you should see a list of
documents you accessed recently. If you don't see a list, it could be because
you instructed Word to not display any recent documents, but if you did
enable the function and the documents don't appear, you might be encountering
a bug.

In one of your Office programs, open the Tools menu, click Options, and
choose the General tab. If the Recently Used File List option isn't selected,
try selecting it. If you can't select it, you need to delete a Registry value
to get it back. (Don't forget to back up your system before you tweak the
Registry.)

Close Word, open Registry Editor (refer to the previous tip for these
steps), and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT
\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\POLICIES\EXPLORER. In the right pane, right-click
the NoRecentDocsHistory value, click Delete, and click Yes to confirm the
deletion. Restart Word and return to the General tab in the Options dialog
box. You should now be able to select the Recently Used File List option, as
well as the number of recent documents you'd like to see each time you click
the File menu.
Click to expand...
 
B

bretsharon

Dear Dave; I remember the term "TWEAK" as I was looking at it, but I do not
remember using it. I did run across the program, but this was many machines
ago, but I had the excel filing listing problem a very long time ago, that is
how I finally found the answer. But this was very long and many
installations ago.

Upon reinstalling excel 2003, about a week ago, I had this file listing
problem, it just took me awhile to locate the fix in my notes. I think this
comes from Google. So I don't think the problem comes from TWEAK entirely.

I removed all my programs from my computer a month ago because (1) I could
not keep Norton's LiveUpdate running, and their only response was to
uninstall and reinstall, and I did this already twice since Oct 2005, so I
just quit using their products entirely, except Ghost is really good and does
not seem to have the update problem

And (2) I had to find out why Adobe 5.0 was taking so long to scan in pages.
I updated to Adobe 7.0, but that didn't help. I found out it was my Canon
Printer Drivers. Can you believe 7.0 doesn't allow you to assign a default
directory!!! No matter what you do, it goes to My Documents!! and you have
to migrate from there!!!. Stay with 5.0 if you can.

Thank you !!!

Dave Peterson said:
This is an alternative to TweakUI:
http://www.x-setup.net/
Click to expand...
 
D

Dave Peterson

TweakUI and programs like this just give a pretty interface to change some of
those esoteric settings. Who knows what actually changed them???

I don't use Norton or Adobe--good luck with those.
Dear Dave; I remember the term "TWEAK" as I was looking at it, but I do not
remember using it. I did run across the program, but this was many machines
ago, but I had the excel filing listing problem a very long time ago, that is
how I finally found the answer. But this was very long and many
installations ago.

Upon reinstalling excel 2003, about a week ago, I had this file listing
problem, it just took me awhile to locate the fix in my notes. I think this
comes from Google. So I don't think the problem comes from TWEAK entirely.

I removed all my programs from my computer a month ago because (1) I could
not keep Norton's LiveUpdate running, and their only response was to
uninstall and reinstall, and I did this already twice since Oct 2005, so I
just quit using their products entirely, except Ghost is really good and does
not seem to have the update problem

And (2) I had to find out why Adobe 5.0 was taking so long to scan in pages.
I updated to Adobe 7.0, but that didn't help. I found out it was my Canon
Printer Drivers. Can you believe 7.0 doesn't allow you to assign a default
directory!!! No matter what you do, it goes to My Documents!! and you have
to migrate from there!!!. Stay with 5.0 if you can.

Thank you !!!
Click to expand...
 
D

Dave Peterson

Most Recently Used file list.
You asked, "Is there a chance you used that and turned off the MRU?----->> I
don't know what a "MRU" is, so perhaps I did, but not knowingly.
Click to expand...
 
Top