Clearing the lists of recently used documents in Windows and in Microsoft Office Applications
Windows will show recently saved documents on the Start menu under either My Recent Documents (in Windows XP with the default XP Start menu), or Documents (in all other versions of Windows). Office will also show those documents near the bottom of the File menu of each program, above the Exit command.
Follow the appropriate steps to remove these lists of recent documents:
Clear the document list from the Start menu
In Windows XP
1. Right-click the Taskbar and select Properties.
2. Select the Start Menu tab. At this point, the instructions depend on which radio button is selected:
If Start Menu is selected:
1. Click the adjacent Customize… button.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Clear List button.
4. Click OK, and then OK again.
If Classic Start Menu is selected:
1. Click the adjacent Customize… button.
2. Click Clear.
3. Click OK, and then OK again.
In Windows 2000
1. From the Start menu, select Settings, and then Taskbar and Start menu… .
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Clear.
3. Click OK, and then OK again.
In Windows 95, 98, Me, and NT 4.0
1. From the Start menu, select Settings, and then Taskbar… or Taskbar and Start menu… .
2. Click the Start Menu Programs tab, and then click Clear.
Clear the document list in Microsoft Office applications
Office 2007
1. Launch an Office application (e.g., Word or Excel).
2. Click the Office Button at the upper left.
3. Click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are using, for example, Word Options.
4. In the window that opens, on the left, click Advanced. Then, on the right, scroll down to display.
5. Next to “Show this number of Recent Documents:”, enter 0 (zero).
6. Click OK.
Note: The user interface for Office 2007 programs is significantly different from that of older versions, and new terms and concepts apply to this Office suite. For information about the new terminology and features, see For Office 2007, what are some new interface features?
Older versions of Microsoft Office
1. Launch an Office application (e.g., Word or Excel).
2. From the Tools menu, select Options… .
3. Click the General tab. Either uncheck the box next to Recently used file list:, or select 0 (zero) from the drop-down menu on the right.
Please see this page for more ways to remove the doc list from not just Word, but all Office products:
How do I quickly remove the recent documents from Office 2007 programs?