Office for Mac recent docs

Hi all

Hope someone can help. Have had my new imac os x 10.7 about a week now.

Cannot use recent documents in top left of desktop as it shows every single thing I have opened and cannot find a way for it just to show files from certain applications !

When i right click on excel in the doc it will not show recent documents option unless i have excel open.

It does have an option 'show recents' but that does nothing except shows my desktop dimmed with nothing on it.

Windows I could open a recent excel document in just one click as I could go to start - excel - and there it listed all recent excel docs.

Is anyone else using excel or word in office mac and has a solution as how I can just open my most recent docs without having to open excel or word first.

Many thanks for any pointers.

The "Recent Items" option will show documents and files that were accessed from all applications not just those from MS Office. If you need a specific Office document to open - for example: Word, PPT, or Excel, that's what the Office Project Gallery is for in MS Office.

You can control the number of "Recent Items" that will be displayed by going to "System Preferences", click on the "General" tab and set the number of Recent Items from the option box. You can set it to zero if desired.

Thank You, I will use that, its the best on offer.

As I said above Windows took me one click

Mac Office

One click to open gallery

Another click on RECENT WORKBOOKS ALL

Then a double click to open the doc.

4 clicks in total.

User friendly, I think not.

TenerifeMac said:

Windows I could open a recent excel document in just one click as I could go to start - excel - and there it listed all recent excel docs.

Click to expand...

This is available in the Mac version of Office as well - File > Open Recent. This will list your ten most recent documents.

Again Thank You but the point I was trying to make was in Windows, Excel did not need to be open for me to see my most recent excel only docs.

What you are saying, and I could be wrong, is that i MUST open Excel, then click on file and most recent.

Anyhow thank you for your time and replies, its appreciated.

Would you mind describing how exactly one -- on Windows -- takes exactly one click to see ONLY the 10 most recent Excel documents WITHOUT opening any Office application or setting this up in advance? I'd be interested in hearing about that.

As for doing what you want, as is often the case OF COURSE the Mac can do this; you just don't know how yet. Fret not.

What you want is called "Smart Folders." What they really are is saved live searches, but they take the form of folder icons. You can set them up using *any* parameters you wish, including multiple conditions (for example "the last 12 XLS documents that include "work" in the title and are larger than 1MB") and store them anywhere you like (in the Dock is a handy spot!).

Once created, you have a genuinely one-click solution that is instantly updated to only those files that meet the conditions you specified.

Thank you for your help. i never knew about smart folders, its a steep learning curve.

It would be ideal on the mac if going to the little apple icon top left desktop then recent items, applications, it then gave you a drop down menu of the most recent for example in Excel.

That is what Windows 7 does kind of, my mistake by the way 2 clicks, i had to start up the laptop to check, forgot about clicking START,

So bottom left of Windows 7 desktop click Start, go up to Micro Soft Excel which is in start up, hold mouse over it for split second and it brings up a drop down menu of all recent excel docs, one click on the one you want to open and job done.

Again thanks for your help, just one thing, if i make changes to a file in smart folders or visa versa open the file directly via Excel does it save any changes in both, ie it is just a short cut or mirror image?

Thank You.

TenerifeMac said:

That is what Windows 7 does kind of, my mistake by the way 2 clicks, i had to start up the laptop to check, forgot about clicking START,

Click to expand...

I had a feeling it was more than one click. Thanks.

Again thanks for your help, just one thing, if i make changes to a file in smart folders or visa versa open the file directly via Excel does it save any changes in both, ie it is just a short cut or mirror image?

Click to expand...

A Smart Folder is not a real folder, it's a "saved (lightning fast) search" for all items that meet the criteria you set out. Everything in it is a shortcut, so there is no "both." When you open a file in a Smart Folder you are opening the original.

Perfect many thanks for your help.

I hope in a year or 2 or 3 lol I can help others.