Start→Recent Items
When you click or highlight this command, a submenu sprouts to the right, listing the last 15 documents you’ve opened. The point, of course, is that you can reopen one just by clicking its name.
This list can save you time when you want to resume work on something you had open recently, but you’re not in the mood to burrow through folders to find its icon.
Note, however, that:
▸ Documents appear on the Recent Items list only if your applications are smart enough to update it. Not all programs do.
▸ The Recent Items list doesn’t know when you’ve deleted a document or moved it to another folder or disk; it continues to list the file even after it’s gone. In that event, clicking the document’s listing produces only an error message. (At least the message now offers to delete the listing from Recent Items so you don’t confuse yourself again the next time.)
By the way, there’s another easy way to open a document you’ve recently worked on. To start, simply open the program you used to create it. Many programs maintain a list of recent documents at the bottom of the File menu; choose one of these names to open the corresponding file.
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