Cannot activate recently used file list

[Marvin]

The "recently used file list" in the Options Menu is greyed out and I cannot
activate it. What could be causing this situation? Is there a registry edit I
can make to activate it?

Thanks in advance ...

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

Does the program itself work?

 

[garfield-n-odie]

See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=284896 "'Most recently used' list
missing from File menu and 'Recently used file list' option unavailable in
Office XP and 2003".

 

[Marvin]

The program works fine and I have not encountered any other probems or
performance issues.

Does the program itself work?

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

The "recently used file list" in the Options Menu is greyed out and I
cannot
activate it. What could be causing this situation? Is there a registry
edit I
can make to activate it?

Thanks in advance ...

 

[Ecosteve]

I have the very same problem still (in Word 2003). Detect and Repair could
not fix it. I have just now upgraded from Office 2002 to a freshly purchased
Office 2003 to try to fix this same problem with Word 2002 but without
success despite doing a complete install (not upgrade). Again Detect and
Repair does not fix it. Very annoying. I have never had TweakUI on this
computer, cannot identify any other potentially non-compliant software and am
reluctant to mess with my Registry unless the instructions are very precise.

 

[Jim P]

I'm in the same boat as Ecosteve. Before anyone suggests, I am not using
TweakUI. I had a trial verion of Office 2003 on my pc and decided I
preferred to use my Office XP which I already have a a license to use.

Unfortunately, the "recently used file list" option is grayed out and
unavailable in any of the Office programs. I have de-installed Office 2003.

Is there a setting in the Registry that I can set/clear to enable this
option in Word/Excel/PowerPoint and Access? Thanks for your help.

Jim

 

[Ecosteve]

I have managed to fix this despite being fairly PC illiterate.
Go to Start, Run and open the Registry Editor with 'Regedit' .
Then check the setting of
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\ and you will find it is set to binary 01 00 00 00
Then simply use the option to reverse this setting and close the editor.
Worked just fine for me. Hope this helps. I have absolutely no idea how this
setting got changed in the first place on just this one PC as I'm very
cautious about allowing any rogue software onto any of my PCs (I am a
consulting engineer with a small home office network).
Regards
Ecosteve

 

[Jim P]

Thanks I did try that, still had no luck. So I decided to download and
install TweakUI. Now it works. Not sure why I couldn't make it work before.
Thanks to all of the suggestions...Jim