clearing/deleting recent documents list

[anaitat72]

I would like to know how to clear the list of recent documents that
appears in the file menu in Microsoft Office 2004 for mac.

I don't know if those are the right words in mac jeargon, I just know
how to do it in Windows.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Choose Word/Preferences/General, uncheck the Recently used file list
checkbox. Click OK. Choose Word/Preferences/General and check the
checkbox to start keeping the MRU list again.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Do you have similar magic for the recent tab in the project gallery?
You can't beat those little snivellers to death with a stick.

Well, they live in the

~:Libraryreferences:Microsoft:com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist

in the

File Aliases\MSWD0
File Aliases\XCEL0

etc. key pairs, which you can delete using the Property List Editor
application.

Unfortunately, the Property List Editor app isn't scriptable, so I don't
know of a way of automating that deletion.

You can, of course, simply delete the entire .plist file, but you lose a
few prefs (like whether the Project Gallery appears on startup, Help
window settings, Formatting Palette prefs, etc.)

I've also thought about, after deleting the recent files, saving the
..plist under a different name, then creating an automator action that
deletes the .plist file and copies the good file, naming it
c.m.O.p.plist, then starts up the Office app. I already use automator to
delete my Normal template prior to starting up Word so that I start up
every time with an uncorrupted Normal, so it shouldn't be too much of a
stretch.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Well, they live in the

~:Libraryreferences:Microsoft:com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist

in the

File Aliases\MSWD0
File Aliases\XCEL0

etc. key pairs, which you can delete using the Property List Editor
application.

Heh! Thanks! That is easy enough to manage. It rather irks me that I
have to leave my machine in a state where others can see where I have
been. I never leave it in a state where it can be spied on, nor is
there anyone about who would care or that I don't trust. It is simply
the principle of the thing. Sloppy system design.

I've also thought about, after deleting the recent files, saving the
.plist under a different name, then creating an automator action that
deletes the .plist file and copies the good file, naming it
c.m.O.p.plist, then starts up the Office app. I already use automator to
delete my Normal template prior to starting up Word so that I start up
every time with an uncorrupted Normal, so it shouldn't be too much of a
stretch.

Ooh! That is *evil*. I like it. I like it a lot.
Pray tell how you substitute the few useful things Normal does. Do you
have a global template in startup? Do you run macros to populate the
new normal?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Pray tell how you substitute the few useful things Normal does. Do you
have a global template in startup? Do you run macros to populate the
new normal?

Normal for me is simply a scratchpad that gets deleted every time I
start Word. I don't populate it at all. I have the following in my
Alternate Startup Folder so that they open on startup:

1) my_startup.dot

A global template/add-in that primarily:

- Sets *every* preference, so that I'm always in a known state
when I've started
- Replaces the main Menu with a custom menu that has all
(and only!) the commands I want. I populate the Menu from
a Table in the template so that it's easily modifiable.
- Creates an "Add-ins" menu. All my add-ins add themselves
to this menu so that I can easily open them to modify, or
just examine the code.
- Replaces the Standard toolbar with a custom one
- Modifies the VBE toolbars and sets up VBE windows
- Sets up keyboard shortcuts
- Modifies built-in toolbars, like contextual popups to put
commands I want on them. Also, hides/disables some built-in
toolbars (e.g., Web toolbar, formatting toolbar), and sets
the default positions for others (e.g, where the View
Header and Footer toolbar and the Formatting Palette appear
on screen).
- Creates a floating Style toolbar containing buttons for
the basic styles I use. Each Document template I have then
adds to or modifies that toolbar so that all and only the
styles in use for that template are available.
- Creates an instance of a With Events class to handle New Doc,
Open, Close, and Change of focus events. Switching documents
modifies the Style toolbar to show only styles in the
document's attached template. Opening a document based on
Normal pops up a dialog asking if I want to attach one of
my own document templates, or, alternatively, opening
the Project Gallery. I *never* create a document based on
Normal.

2) my_replacement_commands.dot

A global template/add-in that replaces certain built-in
commands with ones I've customized, among the more
significant:

- FileSave: saves a backup file in a "backup directory" every
time a file is saved.
- WindowArrangeAll: tiles windows vertically instead of
horizontally
- EditPaste and EditPasteFormatted: ensures that most text
is pasted as plain text
- etc...

3) vba6.dot

A global template/add-in that implements VBA6 commands
(like Replace(), Join(), Split(), Round(), StrReverse(),
InStrReverse(), Filter()) in VBA5.

4) my_macros.dot

A global template/add-in that contains 50 or 60 of my
favorite macros.

5) workmenu.dot

A global template/add-in that

- clears the work menu on startup
- loads work menu items from a text file in the MUD folder
- saves work menu items to the text file on close
- adds commands to the work menu to be able to delete items
more easily, to change item order, and to reattach items
that have been moved.

6) Mathtype Commands.dot

A commercial add-in that replaces the Equation Editor.

7) OpenAttachedTemplate.dot

A global template/add-in that adds an item to the menu bar
to open the attached document template of the active
document. This should have been incorporated in my startup
add-in, but I've been lazy.

8) mydefaultwindowconfig.dot

I use an automator routine to determine which of several
add-ins I load to add a with-events class that configures
the windows of every document I open or create. The default
config sets the window size to give a margin at the bottom of
the screen, sets the width and the zoom for each view
(including print preview), puts the document path in the
window's title bar, turns on Show Hidden Text, field codes
and non-printing characters. I use other configs for
documents from certain clients.

All of the above adds only a few seconds to my startup time. Automator's
deleting Normal and copying the windowconfig file is actually the
slowest part.

You may be able to figure out from this why I'm so unhappy that VBA is
going away in Office 2008 (and my XL environment is far more customized
than Word!). Some of the functions above will be able to be done by
AppleScript and Automator (I'm starting the migration process), but I'll
lose all my custom replacement commands, the automatic events handling,
etc. I'm really going to miss my style toolbar. And I suspect everything
will be monumentally slower.

 

[Elliott Roper]

1) my_startup.dot

2) my_replacement_commands.dot

3) vba6.dot

4) my_macros.dot

5) workmenu.dot

6) Mathtype Commands.dot

7) OpenAttachedTemplate.dot

8) mydefaultwindowconfig.dot
<snip>

All of the above adds only a few seconds to my startup time. Automator's
deleting Normal and copying the windowconfig file is actually the
slowest part.

You may be able to figure out from this why I'm so unhappy that VBA is
going away in Office 2008 (and my XL environment is far more customized
than Word!). Some of the functions above will be able to be done by
AppleScript and Automator (I'm starting the migration process), but I'll
lose all my custom replacement commands, the automatic events handling,
etc. I'm really going to miss my style toolbar. And I suspect everything
will be monumentally slower.

I see. And here's me thinking mine was baroque.

Yep, you better hope the Applescript Dictionary in Office 2008 has a
few muscles. I think it is time to overcome Applescript apathy round
here.
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