A great feature to add to Windows 8 would be to include Recent Documents in the Search bar. Just as when you tap Files, a list of all files comes up, tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

There is already a hidden folder there, called Recent.   Is that what you need?

Unfortunately unlike normal hidden directories it is not enough just to know that it is there, e.g. navigate into it explicitly.   Evidently to use it, it would also be necessary to change your View options to Show hidden items.   I should have felt forewarned by the usability quirks evident when I tried to append \Recent to my userid after Alt-d and then tried tabbing or Ctrl-e to the Search box.  How useful!  (NOT!)  

The whole Windows Explorer UX just makes me wince every time I "experience" it.  I cannot imagine that any serious use-case analysis was done in creating it.  It just looks like a hodge-podge of functionality and UI design to me and for such an important area of usability it is just continually irritating.  Using jump lists (per application) would be one way to try to avoid the aggravation.

 
FYI

 
Robert Aldwinckle
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tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

There is already a hidden folder there, called Recent.   Is that what you need?

Unfortunately unlike normal hidden directories it is not enough just to know that it is there, e.g. navigate into it explicitly.   Evidently to use it, it would also be necessary to change your View options to Show hidden items.   I should have felt forewarned by the usability quirks evident when I tried to append \Recent to my userid after Alt-d and then tried tabbing or Ctrl-e to the Search box.  How useful!  (NOT!)  

The whole Windows Explorer UX just makes me wince every time I "experience" it.  I cannot imagine that any serious use-case analysis was done in creating it.  It just looks like a hodge-podge of functionality and UI design to me and for such an important area of usability it is just continually irritating.  Using jump lists (per application) would be one way to try to avoid the aggravation.

 
FYI

 
Robert Aldwinckle
---

• Proposed as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:20 AM
• Marked as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, February 04, 2013 8:56 AM

tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

There is already a hidden folder there, called Recent.   Is that what you need?

Unfortunately unlike normal hidden directories it is not enough just to know that it is there, e.g. navigate into it explicitly.   Evidently to use it, it would also be necessary to change your View options to Show hidden items.   I should have felt forewarned by the usability quirks evident when I tried to append \Recent to my userid after Alt-d and then tried tabbing or Ctrl-e to the Search box.  How useful!  (NOT!)  

The whole Windows Explorer UX just makes me wince every time I "experience" it.  I cannot imagine that any serious use-case analysis was done in creating it.  It just looks like a hodge-podge of functionality and UI design to me and for such an important area of usability it is just continually irritating.  Using jump lists (per application) would be one way to try to avoid the aggravation.

 
FYI

 
Robert Aldwinckle
---

• Proposed as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:20 AM
• Marked as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, February 04, 2013 8:56 AM

tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

There is already a hidden folder there, called Recent.   Is that what you need?

Unfortunately unlike normal hidden directories it is not enough just to know that it is there, e.g. navigate into it explicitly.   Evidently to use it, it would also be necessary to change your View options to Show hidden items.   I should have felt forewarned by the usability quirks evident when I tried to append \Recent to my userid after Alt-d and then tried tabbing or Ctrl-e to the Search box.  How useful!  (NOT!)  

The whole Windows Explorer UX just makes me wince every time I "experience" it.  I cannot imagine that any serious use-case analysis was done in creating it.  It just looks like a hodge-podge of functionality and UI design to me and for such an important area of usability it is just continually irritating.  Using jump lists (per application) would be one way to try to avoid the aggravation.

 
FYI

 
Robert Aldwinckle
---

• Proposed as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:20 AM
• Marked as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, February 04, 2013 8:56 AM

tapping a selection like Recent Documents would list all the most recent documents opened by a user.

There is already a hidden folder there, called Recent.   Is that what you need?

Unfortunately unlike normal hidden directories it is not enough just to know that it is there, e.g. navigate into it explicitly.   Evidently to use it, it would also be necessary to change your View options to Show hidden items.   I should have felt forewarned by the usability quirks evident when I tried to append \Recent to my userid after Alt-d and then tried tabbing or Ctrl-e to the Search box.  How useful!  (NOT!)  

The whole Windows Explorer UX just makes me wince every time I "experience" it.  I cannot imagine that any serious use-case analysis was done in creating it.  It just looks like a hodge-podge of functionality and UI design to me and for such an important area of usability it is just continually irritating.  Using jump lists (per application) would be one way to try to avoid the aggravation.

 
FYI

 
Robert Aldwinckle
---

• Proposed as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:20 AM
• Marked as answer by Arthur XieMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, February 04, 2013 8:56 AM

Not in defense of the interface, but as a quick solution you can:

Press window+R to start Runprompt.

Type recent in it and press Enter.  If you click on the Modified Date column and sort Descending it you can see most recently opened.

I like this solution, because it shows me "all" recent files instead of top 10 or top 16, like the previous Windows versions did.  Windows 8 takes some getting used to, and is not intuitive in a few areas, but once you learn the methods it is a very efficient GUI.

Ok, I got an error when typing "recent" in the "RUN" box.

I solved it like this:

Opened "C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows" and found "Recent items" shortcut which opened "C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\recent" folder which contained all the recently accessed files and folders.

Pinned it to start (or you could just send it to Desktop).

I guess this is an old issue by now, but I figured someone should write a solution on TechNet.

This comment really helped me retrieve a lost file! Thank you

It works!! Thank You!!

I know that this isn't "optimal" (I really don't like that phrase, but it applies here...)

but...

<WINDOWSKEY> <R> (run) "%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent"

Brought it up for me...