Unable to remove Recent files from File Explorer

tony359 · Nov 12, 2025

Hi all,

I have noticed that I have a bunch of old Onedrive files under "Recents" in File Explorer. If I clear File Explorer history, they don't go away. If I manually select them and select "Remove from list", they don't go away.

Some of those files are tagged as "accessed in 2014", something's fishy here.

The Recents folder on the FS is empty and so is the relevant place in the registry.

Can someone please help me?
Thanks

Spunk · Nov 12, 2025

To stop OneDrive from syncing, right-click the OneDrive icon in the taskbar, select "Settings," then go to the "Account" tab to choose "Unlink this PC" or adjust which folders to sync under the "Choose folders" option. You can also pause syncing temporarily if needed.

Browse to C:\Users\UserName\OneDrive are your files there?
Also do a search for any of those files.
You can move them to your Documents folder or delete them, if you have already backed them up.

tony359 · Nov 12, 2025

Thanks but I'm not sure what your point is. I have some "recent files" in File Explorer which I am unable to remove from the list - I didn't really check whether they are actually linked to files, I would like to clear the "Recent files" list.

I have tried booting without onedrive and they're still there.

I'm not looking for those files - I'm talking about the "recent files" list.

Am I missing something?

Spunk · Nov 12, 2025

If you remove the files from their original location, when you clear Recent Files, they will not return

To clear recent files in Windows 11, open File Explorer, click on the three dots at the top, select Options, and then click the 'Clear' button at the bottom of the dialog. You can also uncheck the option to show recently used files to prevent them from appearing in the future.

Northy · Nov 12, 2025

If it's just particular entries you want removed, delete the shortcuts manually from your temps.

Press Win + R, type %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\, and press Enter.
Select and delete.

tony359 · Nov 13, 2025

Spunk said:
To clear recent files in Windows 11, open File Explorer, click on the three dots at the top, select Options, and then click the 'Clear' button at the bottom of the dialog. You can also uncheck the option to show recently used files to prevent them from appearing in the future.

@Spunk see my first post

> If I clear File Explorer history, they don't go away. If I manually select them and select "Remove from list", they don't go away.

Northy said:
Press Win + R, type %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\, and press Enter.
Select and delete.

@norty see my first post

>The Recents folder on the FS is empty and so is the relevant place in the registry.

tony359 · Nov 15, 2025

Adding some more evidence:

Recent folder is empty

This is what I select to clear the list

Note that all files in the list are Onedrive files. They do exist.

Try3 · Nov 15, 2025

In the Registry, User shell folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Does the Recent entry match its common value?
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

Denis

tony359 · Nov 15, 2025

Yes it does

AI suggests that those are Onedrive Recent files which will disappear if I disable "office recent" files (it's true) and cannot be removed.

Is that right??

Unable to remove Recent files from File Explorer

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