I am trying to delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet that is
no longer needed. When I go to the Office button at the top left corner of
Excel & go to recent document & then highlight the Excel spreadsheet, I no
longer need, it does not give me the choice to do what I want to do. How do I
delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet?

Tish wrote:
I am trying to delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet that is
no longer needed. When I go to the Office button at the top left corner of
Excel & go to recent document & then highlight the Excel spreadsheet, I no
longer need, it does not give me the choice to do what I want to do. How do I
delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet?

The "most recently used" (MRU) list is a numbered list of files you have
opened recently and provides a convenient way to open them again. As you
have found, this is the only functionality the MRU provides.

If you really want to delete the file itself (not just the entry in the
MRU) you will need to use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder
where the file is saved, highlight it, and press delete. This will not,
however, change the MRU.

There are only two ways to change the MRU:

- Open different files until the one you want to lose disappears
- Change the "recent files" setting in Tools | Options to a low number,
close Excel, then reopen Excel. Note! This will remove all files from
the MRU that are numbered higher than the setting you choose. You can,
of course, change the recent files setting again at this point, but
files that were zapped from the MRU will not appear there again until
you open them.

There is actually a third way to change the MRU but it involves editing
the registry and is not recommended.

Hi,

The Recently Used File List has been nicely enhanced in 2007, however, what
you are asking for is not built-in.

Let me point out that 2003 and earlier this list, there at the bottom of the
File menu, displayed 4 items by default but would allow up to 9. When the
list is full and a new item came on the oldest item dropped off. In 2007
the default number of files is 9 but you can up that to 50. And the pin you
see on the right side will lock the file to the RUFL until you unpin it. So
now you can keep the item you most want always at your fingertips. Other
items drop off as in 2003.

--
If this helps, please click the Yes button.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire


"Tish" wrote:

I am trying to delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet that is
no longer needed. When I go to the Office button at the top left corner of
Excel & go to recent document & then highlight the Excel spreadsheet, I no
longer need, it does not give me the choice to do what I want to do. How do I
delete an already previously saved Excel spreadsheet?