How to Open Recently Closed Word Document

Microsoft Word includes a useful feature called Last Document, which allows users to easily find and open recently closed files. This eliminates the need to navigate through folders every time you want to access Word files. By default, Word 2010 will display up to 25 recent documents, but this number can be adjusted to up to 50. Also, if the value is set to zero, the last document feature will be disabled.

To open recent documents:

• Click the “Files” tab at the top of the Microsoft Word window.
• From the side menu, select the “Last” tab.
• Select the document you want to reopen from the list of recently closed documents. The last closed document will appear at the top of the list.

Recent document settings:

• Click “Files” and select “Options.”.
• Move to the “Advanced” tab and scroll down until you access the “Show” section.
• In the “Show the latest document number” field, enter numbers from 0 to 50.
• Click on “OK.”

How to recover recently closed Word documents

Recovering recently closed Word documents is easier than you might think. WinfrGUI provides an easy-to-use interface to take advantage of the power of Windows File Recovery. A reliable tool developed by Microsoft Corporation speaks before fighting complex commands and parameters.

WinfrGUI, the Windows File Recovery Graphical Interface, is your working solution for finding unsaved or removed Word documents easily on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 system. And this is the best part—it won’t cost you. Winfr GUI is 100% free, and it’s here to stay.

How does WinfrGUI work?

• Download and enable WinfrGUI: Start by downloading and enabling Winfr GUI on your computer. It is compatible with Windows 10 version 19041.0 or higher. It supports various file systems, including NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and ReFS.

• Select your drive and scan: Once opened, select a disk on which the Word document has not been saved. Click on “Scan” to start the scan process. WinfrGUI will carefully scan your selected drive for Word files that have recently been closed or deleted.
• Travel through the results: After the scan is complete, WinfrGUI will display in an organized format. You can easily navigate through the recovered files due to their easy-to-use interface.
• Recover your document: specifies the recently closed Word document from the list of recovered files. With a simple click, you can view the previous content to make sure it’s the file you’re looking for. Once confirmed, click on the “recover” button to restore your document to a secure location.

With WinfrGUI, you don’t just recover Word documents, it also helps to recover accidentally closed excel without saving. You’ll get peace of mind. Don’t worry about lost files or struggle with more complicated recovery processes. Moreover, it’s always nice to share useful tools with friends. After all, who’t appreciate a problem-free document recovery solution?

How to view recently opened files in Windows

Windows has two ways to check for recently opened files: Quick Access and Recent Items Folders.

Quick Access displays a limited number of recently opened files—approximately 20 files. By the way, the Recent Items folder keeps a history of the files and the files that were opened a few days, weeks, or months ago. This allows the user to go back and check which files were accessed on a specific date.

Furthermore, fast access does not give you the option to sort recently opened files according to specific parameters. This function is available in the most recent item folders. Try exploring both ways to access recent open files in Windows.

Viewing recently opened files on Quick Access

Open the file search from the taskbar and select quick access from the left bar. This will show a list of recently opened files in the right bar. Scroll down to find the desired file or folder.

Note: In rare cases, Quick Access may stop showing recently opened files. If this happens, please refer to our troubleshooting article on Quick Access Fixes.

If you can’t fix this problem using Quick Access, or if you need an in-depth analysis of the recently opened items, you can view the Recent Items folder.

View recently opened entries in the most recent entries folder

Follow these steps to view the recently opened items in the most recent item folder:

• Use the taskbar to open the file survey.
• Copy and paste the following path into the Explorer file navigation bar:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\

• Do not forget to replace the “user name” in the path with your actual user name. Otherwise, you will not be able to access the most recent item folder.

Following the above steps will take you to the most recent item folder where you can view the recently opened items. Depending on your usage, you may find files and folders that were accessed last month.

How to Sort Recently Opened Items

While viewing the recently opened items in the Recent Items folder, you can sort them by different parameters such as editing dates, type, size, author, etc. to sort the items by specific parameters. Follow these steps:

• Right-click the folder
• Move to the “Sort by” option in the menu
• Click on the parameters you want to use to sort.

After selecting the parameter, it will appear in the “Sort by” menu, allowing you to sort recently opened list types accordingly.

How to View Recently Opened Files for Specific Apps on Windows

While most apps have their own built-in features for viewing recently opened files, Windows still tracks these files in many cases.

To view the recently opened files for a specific app:

• Go to Windows Search and type the name of the app in the search results.
• The window on the right will show the recently opened items associated with that app. 
• Click on the desired item to access it directly.

If you want to see an item that has been opened earlier than it appears in the search results, open the relevant app and go to the latest file section of the app.

How to access recently opened files that are disabled quickly

Quick Access is used as a convenient access point for recently closed files. So even if you or someone else on the same computer deletes files from Quick Access, they will not be deleted from their original location. You can still access the recently shutdown files in the main folder. Latest items by using the steps listed above.

How to access recently opened files that have been deleted from the most recent item folder

When you delete a file survey history or delete files that were recently opened from the most recent item folder, they will be permanently deleted from Windows. This recovery can be a complex task with a slight chance of success. However, there are some troubleshooting that may allow you to access the files that have been opened recently again.

To get started, go to the location of the latest item folder. Right-click on the sheet and select “Restore previous version” from the speaker menu. If available, click on the latest version folder, then click on “Reset”.

If the “Recover Previous Version” option is not accessible in the basic menu of the latest item folder, please repeat the process for the “Windows” main file. Right-click on the Windows folder. Select “Restore previous version” and proceed accordingly.

If these folders do not have an earlier version, your only remaining option is to use third-party recovery software. However, bear in mind that the chances of recovering data from the most recent item folder are minimal.

Easy access to recently opened files

Recently Opened Files will provide an overview of the files you or someone else has been working with recently. We hope this guide will make it easy for you to access the recently opened files using the Quick Access folder and the most recent items.

In the case that the file is deleted from the most recent item folder, you can try recovering using the suggested solution. If the recovery is successful, you are ready. Otherwise, you may need a third-party recovery software.