Adobe · Photoshop desktop on Windows or macOS

Hide Recent Files on Photoshop's Home Screen

Source-checked 15 August 2026About 2 minutes

Answer

Open Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > File Handling on macOS. Set Recent File List Contains to 0, then select OK. This hides every recent-file entry from Photoshop's Home screen and Open Recent menu; it does not delete, move, or change the original files, and it is not a secure history-erasure tool.

Open File Handling

On Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling. On macOS, choose Photoshop > Settings > File Handling.

Set the recent list to zero

Find Recent File List Contains, enter 0, and select OK. Do not delete or move the source files; Adobe documents this as a display-count preference, not as deletion of the files or secure erasure of activity history.

Check the Home screen

Select Home in Photoshop or close the open document to return there. Confirm that the Recent area no longer shows the files and that File > Open Recent has no document entries.

Restore the list when needed

Return to File Handling and set Recent File List Contains to a number from 1 to 100. Select OK and return to Home; recent entries can appear again when the display limit is above zero.

If it does not work

If old thumbnails remain after selecting OK, close Photoshop normally and reopen it. Adobe notes that preference changes can be lost after a force quit or crash.
If you want to hide only one recent file, do not rename, move, or delete the original merely to change Photoshop's history. Adobe's current documented control changes the size of the whole Recent list, not one selected entry.
If the item appears under Your files, Shared with you, or Deleted instead of Recent, it is a cloud-document entry. Changing Recent File List Contains does not remove that cloud file; use the matching cloud-document control only if you intend to change the stored file.
If the list stays empty after you restore a nonzero value, open a harmless local document, close it, and return to Home. If older names reappear after you raise the limit, that confirms why the zero setting should be treated as hiding the list rather than securely erasing history.

Sources and verification

Checked against official documentation on 15 August 2026. Scope: Photoshop desktop on Windows or macOS.

Source-checked against current Adobe guidance. The page is deliberately image-free: File Handling and Recent File List Contains are self-identifying controls, and the visible result is the reader's own empty Recent area. The two migrated screenshots were rejected because they show an obsolete preference and expose personal filenames, folders, artwork, and an account avatar.