Recently used file list in Word 2003

B

bubbie

I cleared the history of recently used files by going to the tools menu and
the options and changing the number to 0.
But when I re-open the tools menu and change the options back to 4, a very
old file name still appears. When I click on that old file name, the last
file I opened, opens up!
I want to clear that old file name out of there and haven't been able to
figure out how. I've tried searching all the groups, but haven't found the
answer to this problem.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

Press Ctrl+Alt+minus sign on the top row (between the 0 and the + keys).
This will turn the mouse pointer into a big black dash. With the black dash
showing, click on File and then click on the file you want to remove from
the list.

If this doesn't do it, then there's probably a registry glitch that will
need to be dealt with.
 
B

bubbie

Thanks for the suggestion. It removes it from the list. But after I open
another file, the old name reappears again. When I click on that old name, it
opens the file I last opened. (I hope that makes sense.)
I searched the registry for the old file name, but came up emptry. Any other
suggestion would be appreciated!.

--
Life isn''t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain
~ author unknown



Herb Tyson said:
Press Ctrl+Alt+minus sign on the top row (between the 0 and the + keys).
This will turn the mouse pointer into a big black dash. With the black dash
showing, click on File and then click on the file you want to remove from
the list.

If this doesn't do it, then there's probably a registry glitch that will
need to be dealt with.
Click to expand...
 
A

Alan Edwards

FWIW
You may have searched the Registry but the value may not be found with
a search. Regedit in XP does not find that binary data for me but a
third party application (Regscanner) does.
Have a look at the value of "Settings" in the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Data

....Alan
 
B

bubbie

I looked at that registry file and I find the last file I opened.
Not the old one that shows in the list of recently opened files
 
B

bubbie

I ran the Regscanner you mentioned and this is where I found the name of the
old file. What is your suggestion on this? Should I delete the information
found in that key?
Thanks for your help!!

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1771\Shell ItemPos1280x800(1) REG_BINARY
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

I would try renaming that key, rather than deleting it, to see if it fixes
the problem. If you end up with more problems, instead, you can always
rename it again.

This article explains a bit about the Bags items in general:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_common_tasks.htm

But, let me make sure I understand the problem.

1. You have a file name Oldbubbie.doc. It exists.

2. You've recently edited Newbubbie.doc.

3. When you click on File in the Word menu, Oldbubbie.doc shows up in the
list. (Does Newbubbie.doc show up, too, by the way, and if it does, does
clicking on it open the correct file?)

4. When you click on Oldbubbie.doc in the list, Newbubbie.doc opens instead.

Is that correct? If you have Excel or another Office program that remembers
recent file names, do they exhibit the same issue?

Let's see if renaming the registry entry fixes it. If not, there might be
something more sinister going on. When file pointers appear to be messed up,
I start to worry about file, folder, and disk corruption.
 
B

bubbie

Thanks for your help!
I had deleted the oldbubbie.doc so it doesn't exist anymore in the folder.
Other than that, you have everything else right.
I'm going to try renaming the registry entry and see what happens.
Then if that don't work I'll try the "Solution 2" at kellys-korner-xp.
I'll post the results.

--
Life isn''t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain
~ author unknown



Herb Tyson said:
I would try renaming that key, rather than deleting it, to see if it fixes
the problem. If you end up with more problems, instead, you can always
rename it again.

This article explains a bit about the Bags items in general:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_common_tasks.htm

But, let me make sure I understand the problem.

1. You have a file name Oldbubbie.doc. It exists.

2. You've recently edited Newbubbie.doc.

3. When you click on File in the Word menu, Oldbubbie.doc shows up in the
list. (Does Newbubbie.doc show up, too, by the way, and if it does, does
clicking on it open the correct file?)

4. When you click on Oldbubbie.doc in the list, Newbubbie.doc opens instead.

Is that correct? If you have Excel or another Office program that remembers
recent file names, do they exhibit the same issue?

Let's see if renaming the registry entry fixes it. If not, there might be
something more sinister going on. When file pointers appear to be messed up,
I start to worry about file, folder, and disk corruption.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
Click to expand...
 
B

bubbie

OK. I tried both ways and had no success. It still shows the old name. Excel,
Publisher, etc don't have the problem. This is the only problem of its kind.
BTW, I know that this is probably a stupid question, but should I have
restarted the computer after I renamed the key? And I didn't rename the
"bag", only the key inside the bag.

--
Life isn''t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain
~ author unknown



Herb Tyson said:
I would try renaming that key, rather than deleting it, to see if it fixes
the problem. If you end up with more problems, instead, you can always
rename it again.

This article explains a bit about the Bags items in general:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_common_tasks.htm

But, let me make sure I understand the problem.

1. You have a file name Oldbubbie.doc. It exists.

2. You've recently edited Newbubbie.doc.

3. When you click on File in the Word menu, Oldbubbie.doc shows up in the
list. (Does Newbubbie.doc show up, too, by the way, and if it does, does
clicking on it open the correct file?)

4. When you click on Oldbubbie.doc in the list, Newbubbie.doc opens instead.

Is that correct? If you have Excel or another Office program that remembers
recent file names, do they exhibit the same issue?

Let's see if renaming the registry entry fixes it. If not, there might be
something more sinister going on. When file pointers appear to be messed up,
I start to worry about file, folder, and disk corruption.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
Click to expand...
 
B

bubbie

Hooray!! At least I found out one thing. When I made a new user profile Word
worked just fine. So it must be as you say: there must be something wrong
with the user profile's Word settings section . Now the question is: what can
I do about it?

--
Life isn''t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain
~ author unknown
 
B

bubbie

I did some searching on the web and found where a site where it said that the
"normal.dot" file sometimes gets corrupted. It said to rename the file to
"normalold.dot" and that Word would make a new "normal.dot" file.
I tried that and it worked! The old file name isn't there anymore.
Thanks to all who gave me suggestions.
I hope this fix that I found helps others who are having similar problems.
--
Life isn''t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain
~ author unknown
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

Wow. I thought that was one of the first things you tried. That's sure one
of the first things that's usually suggested when something is afoul in
Word. It's hard to imagine how a corrupted normal.dot could have caused the
problem, but I'm really glad that you've finally gotten it sorted without
having to move to a new profile.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
 

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