HOW TO: Configure a System Policy to Control the Recently Used File List in an Office XP Program (307949)

SUMMARY

In the Office XP programs listed at the beginning of this article, you can control whether the user sees a list of recently used documents on the File menu and how many file names are displayed in the list. This list is technically referred to as the MRU, the most recently used file list. This article describes how you can configure a system policy to control the recently used file list in an Office XP program.

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Enable a Policy with the System Policy Editor

System policies are organized by application when they are displayed within the System Policy Editor. Each application requires the loading of a related system policy template.

1. Within the templates are categories for Office applications, such as Tools, Options, and Disable items in user interface. Within these categories are individual policies.
2. Enable a policy by selecting it in the System Policy Editor and then enforcing the policy or adding extra parameters or values to the policy in the work area at the bottom of the Properties dialog box.

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Configure a Policy for the Recently Used File List

The following procedure shows how to configure a system policy to display five most recently used files for all users in this list. When you save and distribute this policy, all users of this program see a recently used file list of five files on the File menu.

To configure a policy:

1. Start the System Policy Editor.
2. Create a new policy file, or open an existing policy file.
3. Double-click the Default User policy profile icon.
4. Expand the node for the program that you want to configure (for example, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002).
5. Expand Tools, expand the Options node, and then expand the General node.
6. Select the Recently used file list check box. In the Settings for Recently used file list work area, select the Enable recently used file list check box.
7. In the Size of recently used file list text box, select 5.

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Reading a Policy File Setting

If you create this policy and place it on your domain controller, the result is that when users log on to the network, their logon process will automatically enforce the settings found in the policy file to their computers. The information in the policy file is used to create the following two DWORD registry entries on users' computers:

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\application\Options

Value name: MRUListActive

Data type: REG_DWORD (DWORD)

Value data: 0 | 1

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\ application \Options

Value name: SizeOfMRUList

Data type: REG_DWORD (DWORD)

Value data: 0 - 9
				

NOTE: When the Office program starts, it examines these registry settings and checks to see whether there are values present. If the MRUListActive entry is 1, the program is instructed to use the next SizeOfMRUList registry entry. The SizeOfMRUList entry can use a maximum value of 9 in the value entry.

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