How to Disable or Remove Recent Files in Adobe Reader and Acrobat DC

Quick Tips

• Adobe Acrobat syncs your Recent list among devices.
• Limiting file display only hides recent files but keeps records in the background.
• If you open a document in Adobe Document Cloud, it always shows in the Recent list.

Remove Recent Files in Adobe Reader Desktop

Step 1: On the Recent list, hover over the shortcut you want to delete.

Step 2: Next, click the checkbox on the left of the listing to select it. A separate pane should appear on the screen.

Step 3: Click Remove From Recent to remove the file listing from Recent. You can also select multiple items and remove them in a single go.

If you have many items on the list and want to remove the majority of them, make selecting them less of a chore by checking the box right underneath Recent. That prompts the application to select all items on the list. Then, you may uncheck the items that you want to keep on the list.

Additionally, you can also choose to clear the entire list immediately. There’s a Clear Recent option in the lower-right corner of the window. Click it, then click Clear List on the confirmation pop-up to flush out the entire list.

Disable Recent Files in Adobe Reader Desktop

If you don’t like Recent files populating a list of every file you open, configure Adobe Acrobat to stop showing them.

Step 1: Pull down the Edit menu and click Preferences in the Adobe Acrobat Reader application.

Step 2: On the Preferences pane, click the Documents tab. In the box next to Documents in the recently used list, enter 0.

Step 3: Click OK to save your changes. After that, no recently opened files should show up.

Clear Recent Files in Adobe Reader Mobile

On Android

Step 1: On the Android version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can remove the shortcut by tapping the three-dot icon next to a listed item.

Step 2: On the menu that appears, tap Remove From Recent to remove the shortcut.

Step 3: To remove multiple shortcuts from the list, tap and hold any one item to enter selection mode.

Step 4: Then, check the boxes following the items you want to remove, tap the three-dot icon at the upper-right corner of the screen, and tap Remove From Recent.

Step 5: You can also clear the entire list simultaneously. To do that, tap the three-dot icon at the screen’s upper-right corner without selecting any item and tap Clear Recent.

On iOS

Removing items from the Recent list on the iOS version of Adobe Acrobat DC is similar to that on Android, except when selecting multiple items for deletion.

Step 1: Tapping and holding will not work. Hence, tap the three-dot icon > Select to enter the selection mode.

Step 2: After selecting the shortcuts you want to delete, tap the correct icon (circle with a minus), as shown in the image above. Tapping the trash icon will also delete the file, so be careful.