Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Grabbing the MRU List.

Grabbing the MRU List

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 30, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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. You can see the MRU list by looking at the bottom of the File menu.

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 (2585) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) 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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