Clear the Recent Files History from the Command Line
Delete the shortcut files that power Quick Access's Recent files, jump lists, and Office's recent-documents list in one command.
01Command
$ del /q "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\*"02What it does
Every file you open drops a .lnk shortcut into %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent, and Windows builds Quick Access's Recent list, taskbar jump lists, and much of Office's MRU display from those shortcuts. Deleting them clears all of those views at once — no Settings checkbox hunting. The actual documents are untouched; only the history is gone. Run it from any prompt without admin rights since it's inside your own profile.
03Risk
04Undo
✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.
05Sources
- Windows Environment Variables - SS64Evidence: Documents the %APPDATA% environment variable pointing at the per-user Roaming profile, under which Windows stores the Recent shortcut files that feed Quick Access and jump lists.
Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: Files & Folders
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