Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Grabbing the MRU List.

Grabbing the MRU List

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 14, 2026)

3

Excel allows you to maintain a list of the most-recently used (MRU) files. This list can record the names of up to the last nine workbooks opened and edited within Excel. Understand that nine workbooks is the default; the user can actually change the number of workbooks that can be maintained in the list. See the tip MRU Files Won't Display for more information.

If you want to grab the names of the MRU files and insert those names in a worksheet, you can use the following macro:

Sub MostRecent()
    Dim J As Integer

    For J = 1 To Application.RecentFiles.Count
        Cells(J, 1) = Application.RecentFiles(J).Name
    Next J
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9783) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Grabbing the MRU List.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is eight more than 6?

2026-04-15 09:59:42

J. Woolley

@jamies
I believe your excellent suggestion depends upon the status of "Show...items in Jump Lists" under Settings > Personalization > Start.

2026-04-14 06:07:47

jamies

And a windows user can right click on an excel shortcut to see, and select from a list of MRU
-that works with many apps - including 13 wordpad.exe MRU entries and EDGE viewed page id's .

And for Edge - Reopen Closed Tab: Ctrl + Shift + T.
Do a Google search on
shortcut to reload a closed edge tab

And thanks to J. Wolley for the ListRecentFiles

2021-09-25 10:33:31

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the ListRecentFiles([AddPath]) dynamic array function. In older versions of Excel you can use it with the SpillArray function like this:
=SpillArray(ListRecentFiles([AddPath]))
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/

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