Missing 'recent item' from start menu shortcut

Win7 home premium; MS Office 2007

Up until a month or so ago, my start menu shortcuts showed recent items when
I hovered over them. At one point (I think after an update) the recent items
all disappeared, meaning when I hovered over the icon, no fly-out menu showed
up on the right; no recent items showed.

At the same time, all my recently opened programs disappeared from the bottom
of my start menu; they have since started to reappear, as programs have been
opened.

Gradually some of the recent items have returned to the individual program
icons' fly-out menus (InDesign; Excel, Notepad, e.g.) but Word is still
refusing to display recent docs.

(I'm not talking about the Recent Items on the right panel of the start menu:
those still appear. I mean, specifically, the Word shortcut. The right
triangle is there to the right of the Word shortcut on the start menu, but
nothing appears.)

I have checked the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties and both items are
checked (Store and display recently opened programs in the Start Menu: which
works, and Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the
taskbar: which I think refers to the right-hand panel of all recent items,
not the program-specific ones.)

It's a minor annoyance, as I can open Word and find the recent items there,
but my curiosity is making me crazy. Well, crazier.

Has anyone experienced this or any idea how to restore it? Google ain't my
friend here, and neither is MS Office help (most responses relate to the
Recent Items on the right-hand panel, which is not my problem).

Thanks.

--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

Hi, Joey.

I hadn't noticed until now, but my Word 2010 also didn't list those
recently-used documents. Excel 2010 did; so did several other MS and non-MS
apps, like Paint and Adobe Reader. So I went looking and found a solution -
but also a puzzle.

In Word, I clicked the File icon, then Recent. At the bottom of the Recent
listing, there's a line that says, "Quickly access this number of Recent
Documents" with the number set to 4 (but greyed out). I checked the box in
front of that line and exited Word. Then I clicked the Start menu and the
fly-out menu appeared - with many more than 4 items on it. Success - sort
of.

But then I opened Excel and it did NOT have that box checked. So I opened
Word again and UNchecked the box, then closed Word. Now the Word fly-out
menu still appears. ;<)

So I can't explain it all, but: It worked for me! ;<)

Please let us know if it works for you - and if you find a better
explanation.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3508.1109) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


"Joey from NY" wrote in message
news:...

Win7 home premium; MS Office 2007

Up until a month or so ago, my start menu shortcuts showed recent items when
I hovered over them. At one point (I think after an update) the recent items
all disappeared, meaning when I hovered over the icon, no fly-out menu
showed
up on the right; no recent items showed.

At the same time, all my recently opened programs disappeared from the
bottom
of my start menu; they have since started to reappear, as programs have been
opened.

Gradually some of the recent items have returned to the individual program
icons' fly-out menus (InDesign; Excel, Notepad, e.g.) but Word is still
refusing to display recent docs.

(I'm not talking about the Recent Items on the right panel of the start
menu:
those still appear. I mean, specifically, the Word shortcut. The right
triangle is there to the right of the Word shortcut on the start menu, but
nothing appears.)

I have checked the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties and both items are
checked (Store and display recently opened programs in the Start Menu: which
works, and Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the
taskbar: which I think refers to the right-hand panel of all recent items,
not the program-specific ones.)

It's a minor annoyance, as I can open Word and find the recent items there,
but my curiosity is making me crazy. Well, crazier.

Has anyone experienced this or any idea how to restore it? Google ain't my
friend here, and neither is MS Office help (most responses relate to the
Recent Items on the right-hand panel, which is not my problem).

Thanks.

--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

"Joey from NY" wrote in message
news:...

Win7 home premium; MS Office 2007

Up until a month or so ago, my start menu shortcuts showed recent items when
I hovered over them. At one point (I think after an update) the recent items
all disappeared, meaning when I hovered over the icon, no fly-out menu
showed
up on the right; no recent items showed.

At the same time, all my recently opened programs disappeared from the
bottom
of my start menu; they have since started to reappear, as programs have been
opened.

Gradually some of the recent items have returned to the individual program
icons' fly-out menus (InDesign; Excel, Notepad, e.g.) but Word is still
refusing to display recent docs.

(I'm not talking about the Recent Items on the right panel of the start
menu:
those still appear. I mean, specifically, the Word shortcut. The right
triangle is there to the right of the Word shortcut on the start menu, but
nothing appears.)

I have checked the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties and both items are
checked (Store and display recently opened programs in the Start Menu: which
works, and Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the
taskbar: which I think refers to the right-hand panel of all recent items,
not the program-specific ones.)

It's a minor annoyance, as I can open Word and find the recent items there,
but my curiosity is making me crazy. Well, crazier.

Has anyone experienced this or any idea how to restore it? Google ain't my
friend here, and neither is MS Office help (most responses relate to the
Recent Items on the right-hand panel, which is not my problem).

Thanks.

--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Start ....... Settings ............ Taskbar and Start Menu ...............
Start Menu .............. Tick "Store and Display recently Opened Programs
in Start menu"

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 11:08:20 -0400, R. C. White wrote
(in article <>):

> In Word, I clicked the File icon, then Recent. At the bottom of the Recent
> listing, there's a line that says, "Quickly access this number of Recent
> Documents" with the number set to 4 (but greyed out). I checked the box in
> front of that line and exited Word. Then I clicked the Start menu and the
> fly-out menu appeared - with many more than 4 items on it. Success - sort
> of.

I really appreciate your response, but I'm stuck on step No. 1.

You say 'In Word I clicked the File icon, then Recent..."

I don't know what you mean by that. In Word (2007) I don't have a File
icon... the ribbon shows Home Insert Page Layout, etc. The orb doesn't have a
File icon either, and I've been over all the Options I can think of.

I'm champing at the bit here, because it sounds like you're onto something,
but like they say, that first step is the hardest...


--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

Hi, Joey.

> I really appreciate your response, but I'm stuck on step No. 1.

Yeah, the folks that designed the Ribbon UI made several goofs - and this is
one of them. But they didn't see the problem because they KNEW where the
File icon was. :>(

> ... the ribbon shows Home Insert Page Layout, etc.

Look to the left of Home. See that big blue bar? It's in all the Ribbons
(in Excel 2010 it's green), but the label changes - and in some cases there
is no label at all. Like here in Windows Live Mail 2011 - but if we hover
the mouse over that bar for a few seconds, a label just MIGHT appear. Here
in WLM 2011, it says "Windows Live Mail". Highly informative, isn't it? I
often just call it the "icon-with-no-name".

I didn't use Word 2007 much, and not at all since Word 2010 (beta) came
along a year or two ago. Word 2010 and Excel 2010 have the word "File" on
that bar icon. I don't recall what - if anything - is on it in 2007. If
you hover your mouse over it, does anything appear? If you click the bar -
with or without a label - do you see a drop-down menu? The 2010 version
includes a full-screen menu called "Backstage", so my view will be different
from yours, but it includes the familiar "Save | Save As | ... | Recent |
.... | Exit". The "Quickly access..." checkbox I mentioned is at the bottom
of the Backstage screen.

So it's as hard for me to picture what you see as it is for you to picture
my screen. Maybe someone here who uses both Office 2010 and Office 2007 can
translate for us.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3508.1109) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


"Joey from NY" wrote in message
news:...

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 11:08:20 -0400, R. C. White wrote
(in article <>):

> In Word, I clicked the File icon, then Recent. At the bottom of the
> Recent
> listing, there's a line that says, "Quickly access this number of Recent
> Documents" with the number set to 4 (but greyed out). I checked the box
> in
> front of that line and exited Word. Then I clicked the Start menu and the
> fly-out menu appeared - with many more than 4 items on it. Success - sort
> of.

I really appreciate your response, but I'm stuck on step No. 1.

You say 'In Word I clicked the File icon, then Recent..."

I don't know what you mean by that. In Word (2007) I don't have a File
icon... the ribbon shows Home Insert Page Layout, etc. The orb doesn't have
a
File icon either, and I've been over all the Options I can think of.

I'm champing at the bit here, because it sounds like you're onto something,
but like they say, that first step is the hardest...


--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 14:42:51 -0400, R. C. White wrote
(in article <0vOdnUt40Zsn_wbQnZ2dnUVZ_r->):

> Look to the left of Home. See that big blue bar?

That big blue bar is in Word 2010. I'm using Word 2007.

--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh

Hi, Joey.

Well, don't keep us in suspense, Joey! What DO you see to the left of Home?
How about a screen shot - with the Snipping Tool, perhaps? Or Copied with
PrtScn, Pasted into Paint (or into Word), Cropped to a reasonable size, and
Inserted into your next post.

If you can't do that, then I'll have to bow out of this thread. As I said,
I haven't used Office 2007 in a couple of years and I don't recall precisely
what it looked like. I'm happy to help when I can, but you have to give me
something to work with.

Good luck.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3508.1109) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


"Joey from NY" wrote in message
news:...

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 14:42:51 -0400, R. C. White wrote
(in article <0vOdnUt40Zsn_wbQnZ2dnUVZ_r->):

> Look to the left of Home. See that big blue bar?

That big blue bar is in Word 2010. I'm using Word 2007.

--
Joey from NY

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 22:00:04 -0400, R. C. White wrote
(in article <wtqdne_egY->):

> Well, don't keep us in suspense, Joey! What DO you see to the left of Home?

Sorry. I didn't meant to keep you in suspenders.

In Word 2007 there's the huge Windows ORB to the left of 'home' and clicking
on it drops down an overly large menu of quasi-file related things, but
nothing that relates to recent items.

I'm beginning to suspect the problem is Win7 related and not Word itself
(even though Excel etc work fine and Word doesn't.)

I did find out that the fly-out is called a "jump list" so maybe I'll have
better luck in my googling.

Thanks for your input. If anyone else experiences this or has a solution or
idea for one, I'd appreciate hearing it and If I discover anything useful
I'll post back.

--
Joey from NY
Remember: It is To Laugh