I had the same problem, but it didn't start until I upgraded to Office 2003.
Reading your post I looked at Tweak and under Explorer, you have to check
mark "Maintain document history" to get the "Recently used file list" to work.

I now have my recently used file lists back. Yea!

I just posted today with my problem. I've never used this Discussion Group
thing before, wished I had.

Tweak is a great tool...but you have to be careful, as I've found out before.

Carmen


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is definitely an MRU list at the foot of the File menu (above Exit),
just no way to replace this using Tools | Customize, as there's no entry for
it. In fact, if you drop the File menu while Customize is open, you see
"(List of Recently Used Files)" rather than the actual current list. I can't
account for your loss of it; I don't have TweakUI, but I know there's a
setting to suppress the MRU list on the Start menu, and this affects Word as
well, but it has the secondary effect of disabling the MRU settings in Tools
| Options | General, which you don't seem to be experiencing.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Uncle Joe" wrote in message
...
Suzanne, before you posted your response, I decided to
repair my copy of Word using the Word 2003 disc. The
repair ran fine and I rebooted. After re-launching Word,
could detect no changes to Word. Still no recently used
file list.

Created a couple of test Word documents and saved them
as Test1 and Test2. Closed Word and then re-launched it.
The files Test1 and Test2 appear at the bottom of the File
menu, directly above Exit. That wasn't the case before the
repair action.

Must be losing my mind. Could have sworn that there
was a "Recently Used" entry under the File menu, which
consisted of a drop down list of recently used files. May
be thinking of another app such as Photoshop but am almost
certain I saw it in Word, too. Will check out the registry
link you provided. Thanks.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I don't think this can be done through Tools | Customize, which doesn't
have
a "command" listed for it. Resetting the menu might help. If the setting
were disabled in Options, I'd suspect TweakUI or the like, but since you
can
apparently change that setting, that isn't the issue. Have you tried
rebooting Windows or at least restarting Word? If even that doesn't
help,
then perhaps your Registry needs a nudge; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Uncle Joe" wrote in message
...
Hi. Windows XP Home, Pentium 4, 1 GB, Word 2003

Realized with a start today that the "Recently Used File List"
option has disappeared from File Menu. I depend heavily
on it.

Double checked Tools Options General and the
"Recently Used File List" option is enabled and 9 files
are specified in the list box.

Manually opened a couple of existing Word documents,
slightly modified them, saved them, and Closed Word.
Reopened Word hoping to see the Recently Used File List
had reappeared, and would show the two documents in
the list. No joy! Darn.

Any ideas on how to reclaim this valuable File List option
Thank you.