Microsoft Word Recent Documents Disappeared Mac

Nov 14, 2018  Docx files on a mac. If you are working on your Word document and you forget where you have saved the document or have accidentally deleted the document or simply cannot find the document this. Recover text from a damaged file in Word On the Word menu, click Preferences. Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, click General. Make sure that the Confirm file format conversion at Open check box is selected, and then close the General dialog box.

How to find and recover a lost Microsoft Word document by Lance Whitney in Software on August 15, 2018, 9:48 PM PST If you are trying to track down a missing Word document, these tips and tricks. Dec 15, 2017 Close Microsoft Word for Mac. Open the Documents folder, and then open the Microsoft User Data folder. Locate the file that starts with the following words: “AutoRecovery save of” and select the document you want to recover, and rename the file to your choosing. Add “.doc” to the file name extension. Word on my Mac doesn’t have a recently opened files list but Excel does. Turns out the feature was disabled (or perhaps it was never enabled). Whatever the reason, it wasn’t there and I wanted it to be accessible. Lucky for me it is just a preference setting. Click the Word button, click Preferences and then General. Look for the Track Recently Opened Documents option and enable it.

Summary

If Microsoft Office Word 2016 or 2013 no longer shows Recent Documents below the Open option, you can not open an edited Word document via the Recent option. Relax! Follow the advice on this page, you'll efficiently restore the disappeared list of recent documents, and even recover the lost Word file with the help of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.

Word

How do I find recent documents in Word

To locate this option: On the File menu, select Open. In the Files of type list (All Word documents), select All Files. Select the backup file that you found, and then select Open. Aug 06, 2010 List of Recent Documents not showing up in Task Bar or Start Menu. My list of Recent Documents is not showing up in either my Task Bar or Start Menu. I have opened Word Options / Advanced, and selected to display 15 recent documents, but they're not showing up.

'The recent files list was always there whenever I open the File > Open option in Microsoft Office Word on Windows 10. However, not this time.

The Excel, Notepad, and PowerPoint are all fine, whereas the Word 2016 is not showing recent documents anymore. I don't know what happened and I need help to restore the disappeared recent list so that I could continue using this function again.'

Workable SolutionsStep-by-step Troubleshooting
Method 1. Sign In with MS AccountOpen a blank Word file > Sign in with email > Enter your password...Full steps
Method 2. Disable and Re-enable Recent DocumentsDisable Recent Documents > Open Advanced feature > Set the number...Full steps

The Recent Documents option is regarded as quick access for Microsoft Office users to get their saved documents, excel, or powerpoint, etc. files. When you can't find a Word document on your local PC drive, the Recent Documents option can also help you quickly locate and access it.

However, according to some MS Office Word users, the Recent Document option may not show up in the Word application. If you happen to have this incident on your Windows PC, don't worry. In the following, you'll learn the causes that make Word Recent Documents option disappeared and how to recover it in Word 2016/2013.

Why is recent documents list not showing in Word

To bring the missing recent documents back to its list in the Windows operating system, you must figure out the exact causes in the first place. Mostly, there are three reasons that may disable the recent documents list showing up in Word application:

# 1. Recent Word files were manually removed from the Recent Documents list

Microsoft Office allows users to remove an individual file from the recently used file list with the option 'Remove from list'. In fact, you don't remove the file from your entire system unless you pressed 'Delete'.

If you have manually removed or deleted the recently opened or edited word documents from the Recent Documents list, you'll have to find and open your Word files one by one on your local drive or external storage devices.

# 2. Microsoft Office Word is logged out with no MS account

Sometimes, if you used to sign in with a Microsoft Office account in Word 2013, 2016 while editing documents, the Word application would record all the operations and changes that you have made into your MS account.

As a result, when you sign out with your MS Account in MS Word, you may lose some recordings, such as the Recent Document list recordings.

# 3. The Recent Documents list was disabled

Usually, the MS Office Word Recent Document list was enabled by default. However, due to false operation or personal needs, some users may disable this feature to speed up Microsoft Office Word on their computers. If it's so, the workarounds towards this issue are available in the next part to help.

Continue reading to check and apply a suitable solution to make the recent Word files re-appear in the list.

How to recover recent documents in Word on Windows 10/8/7

In this part, we're going to illustrate some practical solutions that you can pick up to bring the disappeared Recent Documents list back on your Word 2013/2016. The provided methods can also be applied to other versions of Microsoft Office applications like MS Excel, PPT, Word 2010, etc.

Fix 1. Sign In with MS Account to Make Recent Documents Show Up in Word

If you are currently logged out of your MS account, you can retry to sign in with your Microsoft Office account to bring the disappeared Recent Document list show up:

Step 1. Open a blank new Word file, click 'Sign in' at the right top corner and select 'Yes' to allow Office connect to the Internet.

Step 2. Sign in with your email address or phone number, click 'Next' to continue.

Step 3. Enter your password and click 'Sign in' to log in to your MS account.

Step 4. Now, you can open a new Word file, go to File > Open > Check the Recent Document list under Open.

If the recent Word files show up on the list, congratulations. You can directly access and open these files through this list. If nothing appears, follow the next fix to enable the Recent Documents list feature.

Fix 2. Disable and re-enable Recent Documents feature

If the Recent Document feature is disabled, you won't be able to view anything under the Open column in MS Word 2013, 2016. You can first try to disable this feature and then re-enable it with new settings in Word:

Step 1. Disable Recent Documents feature in Word

1. Open Word 2013/2016, click File -> Options -> Advanced.

2. Under Display, set 'Show this number of Recent Documents' to '0' and uncheck the box of 'Quickly access this number of Recent Documents'.

Step 2. Re-enable Recent Documents in MS Word

Microsoft Word Recent Documents Disappeared Mac

1. Open Advanced feature in Word by opening a new Word file, go to File > Options > Advanced.

2. Set the number '0' to '10' '15' '25' or other numbers as you like next to 'Show this number of Recent Documents'. If this number is set to zero, undoubtedly, you don't see a single recent document showing in this area.

3. Check the box of 'Quickly access this number of Recent Documents' and change the number '0' to '10' '15' '25' or other numbers as you like.

Step 3. Click 'OK' to keep all the changes, restart the Word application.

After this, you can open a new Word file, go to File > Open > Recent Documents to check your missing Word files from the list.

Bonus Tip: Restore Missing or Lost Word Documents

After making Word document files show up in the Recent Documents list, you can quickly access and open your files through this list. If MS Word doesn't bring up your desired Word file, don't worry. You can first try to search the document name on your PC, or check the Recycle Bin to see if you can find the file.

If nothing is found, the Word file is probably lost or missing. At this moment, reliable Office file recovery software is the best choice to bring your recently lost or missing documents back.

EaseUS file recovery software is able to help. No matter how you lost your files, it takes only 3 steps to scan and bring your lost files back:

Step 1. Choose the Word file location.

Do you know where you lost Word files? Choose the hard disk drive or a specific folder and click the San button. If it's on a USB flash drive or SD card, take one more step to connect it to your computer.

Step 2. Scan all lost data.

The software will start immediately scanning all lost data on the selected drive, and you'll see more and more data showing up in the scan results. After the scan, use the quickest way to the wanted Word documents by choosing 'Documents' from the drop-down list in 'Filter'.

Step 3. Select Word files and recover.

You're allowed to preview a Word file if you have Microsoft Word application installed on your computer. Finally, select the desired documents and click 'Recover'.

Further Word FAQs

On this page, we included two fixes of making Recent Documents show up in Word 2013, 2016. We also introduce a bonus tip to help you recover lost or deleted Word document on your computer.

Here, we also gathered some frequently asked questions about the MS Word document. If you are interested in one of them, continue reading and you may find a desired answer or satisfying solution toward your issues:

Question 1: How do I find my recent documents in Windows 10?

Answer: The recent documents option has been removed from Windows 10. However, you can still access all your recent files via Quick access on your PC.

Press Windows Key + E > Open File Explorer > Select 'Quick access' > Check all your recently viewed files or documents under Recent files.

Question 2: How do I find recent documents in Word?

Answer: Your Recent Documents list is under the File menu in Word. To open it, you need to launch the Word application, go to File > Open > Click 'Recent Documents' and then you will see a list of your recent documents.

You can simply click the document to open it. If you don't see anything below the Recent Document list, try the provided solutions on this page to fix it.

Microsoft word recent documents disappeared mac pro

Question 3. How do I recover an unsaved Word document?

Answer: Microsoft Office has added this feature to automatically keep the unsaved document when you accidentally closed the Word or Excel application. To restore the unsaved Word file, you can simply relaunch Word app > Go to File > Open > Click 'Recover Unsaved Document' > Select the unsaved file and save it as .doc or .docx on another secure location.

If you have further questions on restoring lost or closed Word file without saving, refer to this link for more detailed solutions: 3 Ways to Recover Unsaved Word Document in Windows 10.

If you have more questions, try the Search options on our website (https://www.easeus.com) or go to the How-To tips page to find more solutions.

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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

While using Word for Mac one or more Toolbars are missing and cannot be added.

Cause

This behavior can be caused by one of these things:

  • The oval button in the upper-right corner of the document was clicked. This button 'toggles' display of toolbars on and off.
  • There is an issue with the Normal template in Word.
  • The toolbars or menus are modified.

Resolution

Recent Documents Vista

To resolve this problem, try the following methods.

Method 1: Make sure that tool bar display is not turned off

  1. In the upper-right corner of the window click the oval button.

    Note

    When this button is clicked, it hides all the toolbars. A second click causes the toolbars to be displayed.

  2. If the toolbars reappear, quit, and then restart Word to make sure that the appropriate toolbars are displayed.

If Method 1 did not resolve the problem, try Method 2.

Method 2: Reset the toolbars and menus in Word

You can reset the toolbars and menus in the Customize Toolbars and Menus option, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

  1. Open Word.
  2. Go to View in the menu.
  3. Choose Toolbars.
  4. Select Customize Toolbars and Menus.
  5. Select Toolbars and Menus in the top of the Customize Toolbars and Menus window.
  6. Select the item in the list you want to reset (Menu Bar, Standard, Formatting).
  7. Click Reset.
  8. Click OK when getting prompt: 'Are you sure you want to reset the changes made...'
  9. Click OK.

Note

When View is missing from the menu, then you can also Control Click the Standard Toolbar and go to Customize Toolbars and Menus here.

If Method 2 did not resolve the problem, try Method 3.

Method 3: Create a new Normal template Note

When a new Normal template is created, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

Step 1: Quit all programs

To quit active applications, follow these steps:

  1. On the Apple menu, click Force Quit.

  2. Select an application in the 'Force Quit Applications' window.

  3. Click Force Quit.

  4. Repeat the previous steps until you quit all active applications.

Warning

Macbook Word Document Disappeared

When an application is force quit, any unsaved changes to open documents are not saved.

When you are finished, click the red button in the upper-left corner and proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Word 2008 and 2011: Move the Normal.dotm template file to the Trash

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
  2. On the Go menu, click Home.
  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Select the Application Support folder.
  5. Select the Microsoft folder.
  6. Open the Office folder.
  7. Open the User Templates folder.
  8. Move Normal.dotm to the Trash.
  9. Start Word, a new Normal.dotm template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.

Note

When you had Word 2004 on your Mac previously and you now have Word 2008 or Word 2011, also check if the Word 2004 Normal file is present on the system, if so, trash this Normal template file as well.

Microsoft Word Recent Documents List

Step 3: Word 2004: Move the Normal template file to the Trash

Microsoft Word Recent Documents Disappeared Mac Download

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
  2. On the Go menu, click Home.
  3. Select the Documents folder.
  4. Select the **Microsoft User Data **folder.
  5. Move Normal to the Trash.
  6. Start Word, a new Normal template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.