Member Avatar for svsathyavishnu

How to delete history. .

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There are three different “recent” things in Windows 8/8.1 people commonly confuse: the Recent Items folder (a list of shortcut files), per‑app Jump Lists (the right‑click lists on taskbar icons), and the Start/Taskbar setting that lets Windows record those items. ’s symptom (“can’t see recent used history”) usually means one of those is disabled or the underlying files were cleared/corrupted; was right that taskbar Jump Lists show per‑app recent files, and ’s Run test points to how to open the store directly.

Open the Recent Items folder (reliable method)

  • Press Win+R, type:
    shell:recent

    That opens the Recent Items virtual folder (physically: %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent). Deleting the shortcuts there clears the Recent Items view. (ss64.com)

Where Jump Lists live and how to clear them

  • Jump List data is kept in the same Recent area under two hidden subfolders: AutomaticDestinations and CustomDestinations. To fully reset all Jump Lists, close apps, then delete the files in:
    %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\

    Alternatively, open Taskbar Properties → Jump Lists tab and uncheck “Store and display recently opened items…” to clear history, then re‑enable if you want it to repopulate. To remove a single entry, right‑click the item in a Jump List and choose “Remove from this list.” (eightforums.com)

Troubleshooting and cautions

  • If shell:recent returns “access denied” or nothing appears, a policy/registry setting (e.g., NoRecentDocsHistory/NoRecentDocsMenu or a Group Policy that disables recent‑items) or a cleanup tool may be responsible — check Taskbar Jump Lists settings and Group Policy. After manual deletions, restart Explorer or sign out/in to rebuild lists. Back up the folders or create a restore point before removing files. (learn.microsoft.com)

This addresses the specific gap in the thread: where the lists are stored and exact, safe steps to view, clear, or reset them (without relying only on general cleaners).

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

what history ,
or same as in win98/winxp/win7/vista - right click on the harddrive icon in windwos explorer ,and choose Disk cleanup

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Install CCleaner -- it do0es a pretty good and thorough job at removing junk (e.g. temp) files, unneeded cookes, and other things.

Member Avatar for svsathyavishnu

Not that history. .
I'm not able to see my recent used history in windows8. .

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

AFAIK there is no such thing.

Member Avatar for SaintAce

Recently used documents/files ? That's accessable by right-clicking the program's icon on your taskbar (when open or if pinned). Or by clicking File (from the program's menu bar) and most recently used files should either be listed there or under History/Recent

Recently used programs ? Yeah, that no longer exists in the start menu.

Member Avatar for Daemon_CC

In Run command window type "Recent" and press enter.

Member Avatar for Ravi_16

Recent cmd does not work

Member Avatar for Daemon_CC

I am already using Windows 8.1 and previously i used Windows 8 it worked in that..

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