Transforming Windows's "Documents" Menu

The quickest way to access recently used folders is to use the "Start" → "Documents" menu. If you have the habit of using this menu like me, you will definitely feel its limitations under long-term use. For example, the "Documents" menu can only display 15 shortcuts by default, and the displayed content is usually too much and too complicated.

This article introduces a few tips for breaking through the limitations of the "Documents" menu. But the first thing to declare is that although the introduction of this article applies to all versions of Windows, all the pictures, menu names, terms, etc. in the article are subject to Win XP. Other operating systems may differ slightly. I will point out the key points. .

The shortcuts contained in the "Documents" menu are saved in the Recent folder. For the Win 9x series, the Recent folder is located in WindowsProfiles <user name>Recent; for Win 2K/XP, the Recent folder is located in Documents and Settings<user name>Recent. However, for Win XP, the Recent folder appears as "My Recent Documents" in the Explorer, but you can open it with the name Recent in the address bar of Resource Management.

If you don't see the Recent folder in the Explorer, please follow the steps below: Select the menu "Tools" → "Folder Options", click the "View" tab, and select "Show all files" And folder", click "OK".

First, the limit of the number of broken documents

The number of shortcuts included in the Recent folder usually far exceeds the number displayed in the "Documents" menu. How can I view all the "most recently accessed documents"? Quite simply, you can put its shortcuts on the Start menu or on the desktop. Right-click and hold the Recent folder, drag it to the "Desktop" or "[Start] Menu" folder, release the right mouse button, select "Create Shortcut at Current Location", and rename the shortcut to "Recent Document" .
If you put a shortcut into the "Start" menu, when the mouse points to it, it will automatically display the contents of the folder as a menu item - the disadvantage is that this menu is usually very long, you need to scroll up and down to find Documents needed.

If you put the shortcut on the desktop, it is best to customize the folder view, as shown in Figure 1, you can make it look like a menu (only display the file name), you can also expand the window to display " Modify the date, size, and other columns to easily sort and find files according to various conditions. In addition, when the folder is opened later via the Start menu or the desktop shortcut, it retains the existing display (provided that "Remember the view settings for each folder" must be enabled).

图一