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Huge number of invisible files in the "Recent items" folder in roaming profiles.

Anonymous
2024-05-17T14:24:12+00:00

I've been having this issue for years and never managed to find any clear answers on it so thought it was time I reached out for help.

The folder %Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent has a huge number of files in for all our users. Well over 10,000 files for many. As far as I can tell it never cleans up old files instead presumably storing and endless list of every file a user has ever opened.

This of course increases the profile size and log in times.

The problem is I can't find any way to delete these files. If I open the folder for a particular user on the server I only see the administrator accounts recent items. But even if I open the folder on a PC logged into as the users it only shows a small number (maybe a few hundred) of the files. Even with AutomaticDestinations and CustomDestinations folders included it only adds up to a few hundred files. But if I right click on the "Recent Items" folder itself it still shows thousands of files.

The only option I can think of is to delete the whole folder but it would of course mean the users lose all their recent items each time I did this. Is the folder recreated automatically?

Hoping someone on here is able to explain where these mysterious masses of files actually are and how I can delete them!

I'm on Server 2019 and Windows 10 workstations.

Thanks!

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Directory services | User logon and profiles

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-20T14:49:15+00:00

    Hello Simon183,

    Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

    The folder %Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent is used by Windows to store shortcuts to recently opened files. It is normal for this folder to contain a large number of files if users frequently open and close files. However, if you are concerned about the size of this folder, you can try clearing the contents of the folder by following these steps:

    1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder %Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent.
    2. Select all the files in the folder by pressing Ctrl+A.
    3. Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete all the selected files.

    Note that deleting the files in this folder will not affect the actual files themselves, only the shortcuts to them.

    It is best to delete the data under a user profile %Userprofile%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsRecent first (it is recommended to back up this data before deleting it in case of problems). If nothing goes wrong, delete everyone's data.

    I hope the information above is helpful.

    If you have any question or concern, please feel free to let us know.

    Best Regards,

    Daisy Zhou

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-20T15:13:52+00:00

    Hi Daisy,

    Thank you for your reply however I don't think you've understood my query. I know how to access the folder and delete the visible files. However there are thousands of files not visible. If I right click the folder and select properties it shows over 10,000 files. If I open the folder and select all (ctrl+a) there are only a few hundred. If I delete all files within these folders as you suggest the folder appear empty. However the properties of the folder still show 10,000+ files and 30+MB total size.

    The number of files is much larger for users who have been at the company longer so I assume it is keeping a list of every file they've ever opened rather than just the recent ones.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-21T08:47:22+00:00

    Hello Simon183,

    Good day!

    I have deleted all the data under C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent.

    I can also see 18 files and 2 folders via folder Properties.

    Best Regards,
    Daisy Zhou

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-24T06:05:47+00:00

    Yes these will be the 2 hidden folders CustomDestinations and AutomaticDestinations I mentioned in my original post. The files I'm seeing are not in those since they onyl show in properties of the main folder.

    There must be a way to clear these out. It's simply mind blowing this folder is designed to just expand endlessly rather than be set to only keep the last few months or last 200 files for example.

    Maybe it works on local profiles but on roaming profiles it has always done this, it's just getting a bit silly now and I still can't find any way to clear them short of deleting the entire "Recent items" folder.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-24T10:38:46+00:00

    Hello

    I still can't find any way to clear them short of deleting the entire "Recent items" folder.

    *A: You can try to delete the entire "Recent items" folder on one test machine or on one user machine to see if it helps.*Note: Please back up all the data before you delete them.

    Best Regards,
    Daisy Zhou

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