All versions: You get fast access to the files opened most recently when you select Start, Documents, but only the last 15 files you worked on are visible from this menu. Want to view more than 15? Fewer? Here are several of my favorite ways around this and other limitations of Windows' Documents menu.

The shortcuts displayed in the Documents menu are stored in a folder called (appropriately enough) 'Recent'. This folder is probably in your Windows folder unless your system has several user profiles; if it does, the folder for your profile will likely be in 'C:\Windows\Profiles\ your log-on name\Recent' or 'C:\Documents and Settings\ your log-on name\Recent'.

If you aren't able to see the folder in an Explorer window, choose either View, Options, View, Folder Options, or Tools, Folder Options (depending on your Windows version); click the View tab; select Show All Files or Show Hidden Files and Folders; and click OK. If necessary, choose Start, Find, Files or Folders (or Start, Search, For Files and Folders in Windows Me), and look for a folder named 'Recent' on your start-up drive. If there's more than one folder named 'Recent', find the one that contains the shortcuts to the files you opened most recently.

Shortcuts to your shortcuts: Your Recent folder often contains far more shortcuts than are visible on the Documents menu. To view all of the documents in this folder, open it and resize it by dragging its edges (see Figure 1). The next time you open the folder, it will retain those dimensions. Now right-click and drag the folder icon to your Desktop folder, Start Menu folder, or StartUp folder (which is inside the Start menu's Programs folder). Select Create Shortcut(s) Here when you release the button. Note that any file shortcut you add to the Recent folder manually won't appear on the Start, Documents menu.

You can make Windows 2000 and Me display shortcuts to the folders you opened most recently as well as to your recently opened documents. Right-click an empty part of the taskbar and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar. In the New Toolbar dialog box, browse to and select the Recent folder that contains your file shortcuts. Click OK to create a toolbar that shows more--though not necessarily all--of the file and folder shortcuts in your Recent folder.

If the toolbar takes up too much space on your taskbar, drag the handle near the toolbar name to shrink it until only the toolbar name and two greater-than symbols (>>) are showing. Click the greater-than symbols whenever you want to see a pop-up menu of recent items (see Figure 2). If you like, you can drag the entire toolbar to the desktop and create a floating toolbar. This arrangement lets you right-click the toolbar and choose Always on Top to keep your recent items a click away.

If you prefer a larger Documents menu but don't want it to appear on the taskbar or as a floating toolbar, you can make Windows 2000 and Windows Me store shortcuts to your recently opened files in a folder other than the default Recent folder. The simplest way to do this is with Tweak UI, a free Microsoft utility available from the Downloads library at PCWorld.com.

First, you need to create the folder where you'll store your Recent documents' shortcuts. You will probably want this folder to be inside your Start Menu folder to make accessing the files easier. You can also make recent items pop up on the Links bar by creating a folder inside the Links folder, which is usually found inside the Favorites folder. (I will discuss the Links toolbar in greater detail in next month's Windows Tips.)

Next, open Control Panel, double-click the Tweak UI icon, and select My Computer. Under Special Folders, choose Recent Documents from the Folders drop-down list. Select Change Location, read the warning, and click Yes. In the Browse for Folder dialog box, find and select the new folder you created for your recent shortcuts. Click OK as many times as necessary. Now choose Start, Log off, click Yes when you're asked if you're sure you want to log off, and then log back on to make the change take effect.

At first you might not see any shortcuts on your new menu (or in your new folder), but as you open and save files over time, the list will grow longer and become more useful.

Note: The two tips above work fine in Windows 9 x, but you'll see more than 15 items at once only in Windows 2000 or Me.

A historical perspective: To see shortcuts to recently used files while working in any folder, Explorer, or Internet Explorer window, press Ctrl-H to open the History pane (also called the History 'Explorer Bar') on the left side of your screen. To see only the documents you opened that day, choose View, By Date inside the History pane (not the 'View' on the main menu bar at the top of the window under the folder name). Then click Today and choose My Computer (see Figure 3).

To see a mixture of the documents you opened and the Web sites you visited today, choose View, By Order Visited Today. And to see all the documents opened on your computer in the last several days (excluding Web sites), choose View, By Site and click My Computer in the History list. (If you don't see 'My Computer' in the History pane, open a file in any application, and then close and reopen the History pane; 'My Computer' should become visible under 'Today'.)

This view lists the largest number of recent files--probably too many to be useful--but at least the files are alphabetized. Once you've clicked My Computer to activate the list, you can jump to an item simply by typing its first letter (type the letter repeatedly to move down the list of files that start with that letter one at a time).

Clicking a Microsoft Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), or other Office file opens it in the current folder or browser window rather than in the normal Office application window, but you'll still have access to the menus necessary for editing the file. Non-Office file types should open as expected.

See only your type of file: The Documents menu may show file types that you don't want to see. For example, you may not want the menu to list every graphic you download from the Web or every .zip file you open. Of course, you can right-click any item on the Documents menu and choose Delete, but you can also get rid of multiple files at once by making a shortcut that wipes out useless file types and leaves more room for the kinds of files you want to see. Right-click the empty area inside a folder or on the desktop, and choose New, Shortcut.

In the Create Shortcut wizard's first box, type a line such as command.com /c del c:\windows\recent\*zip*.lnk (see Figure 4). Change the path above to match the location of your own Recent folder, and then replace 'zip' with the extension of the file type you want to filter out of the Documents menu. In Windows 2000, change 'command.com' to cmd.exe. Select Next, give the shortcut a name, and click Finish.

Unfortunately, this trick works only when the extension of the file type you want to delete is revealed. Open any Explorer or folder window and choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options, depending on your version of Windows. Click the File Types tab and select the file type you intend to filter routinely. Then click Edit (in Windows 9 x) or Advanced (in Windows 2000 or Me). Check Always show extension, click OK, and close the Folder Options dialog box.

Now any time you want to remove that type of file from your Documents menu, simply launch the shortcut you just created. To make Windows clear those files automatically every time you log in, place the shortcut in the Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder. You can also use the Task Scheduler or Scheduled Tasks folder to delete the items whenever you want.

Filter recent documents on the fly: You can filter your list of recent documents to show only one file type without deleting other file types, but this arrangement requires a bit more work than simply consulting a menu or toolbar. Most of the effort comes in the initial setup, however. Choose Start, Find, Files or Folders or Start, Search, For Files and Folders. In the first box, type *.lnk. In the 'Look in' box, type the path to your Recent folder. To specify the type of shortcut you want to see, select the 'Containing text' box. There, type the extension for the file type you're seeking--for example, xls for Excel files or doc for Word files--and press Enter. The window will show you only the shortcuts for the files you specified.

To simplify this process in the future, choose File, Save Search. In Windows 9 x, the saved search automatically appears on the desktop, but you can move it. Store this and any other searches in a Start menu folder or other convenient location. The next time you want to filter your recent shortcuts, just launch the shortcut to the saved search and press Enter to update the results.

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