If you’ve spent any time working in NetDocuments, you’ve likely noticed the Recent Matters and Recent Documents sections on your home screen. These are two of the most-used navigation features in the platform, yet many users aren’t entirely sure how they work or why certain items appear. Let’s break it down.
Recent Documents
Recent Documents doesn’t just show one combined list — it gives you four ways to view your recent activity:
All Recent Documents shows the most recently edited, opened, and added documents in sequential order. Any action that places a document in one of the other three lists — editing, opening, or uploading — will also cause that document to appear in the All list.
Recently Edited Documents only includes documents you’ve actually edited. It shows the most recent 40 documents you have edited.
Recently Opened Documents only includes documents you’ve opened. It shows the most recent 40 documents you have opened. Worth noting: simply accessing the profile of a document does not count as an open.
Recently Added Documents contains the 40 most recent documents you have added to NetDocuments. If you copy a document within NetDocuments, that new document is also included in this list. One thing to be aware of — if you use ndOffice to save email messages to NetDocuments, those emails will not appear in your Recently Added list by default.
The list is personal to each user and reflects your own activity only, not your colleagues’. As you continue working, older documents naturally fall off the bottom of each list once the count exceeds 40.
Recent Matters
Recent Matters tracks the workspaces (matters) you’ve navigated into rather than individual documents. NetDocuments keeps a list of up to 40 of the most recently accessed workspaces, ordered by when you last opened them — most recent at the top.
The order is entirely driven by your activity. The moment you click into a matter, it jumps to the top of the list. As you continue accessing other matters, older ones work their way down and eventually cycle off once you exceed 40.
No Manual Removal Option
There is no option in NetDocuments to manually remove an item from either Recent Documents or Recent Matters. These lists are completely self-managing. As you continue working and open new documents or navigate to new workspaces, older items naturally cycle off the bottom on their own. Once you’ve accessed more than 40 items, the oldest ones drop off automatically.
A Practical Tip: Use Favorites for Persistent Access
Because the recent lists are dynamic and cycle through automatically, they’re not the best place to rely on for matters you want to keep at your fingertips long-term. If there’s a matter you access regularly, add it to your Favorites. Favorite workspaces stay pinned on your home page regardless of your recent activity and won’t cycle off. NetDocuments allows up to 350 favorite workspaces, so there’s plenty of room.
The Bottom Line
Recent Matters and Recent Documents are convenience features designed to surface what you’ve been working on without any setup required. Both lists hold up to 40 items, ordered by most recently accessed. They’re not meant to be curated — which is exactly why there’s no manual removal option. Just keep working in NetDocuments, and the lists take care of themselves.
If you have questions about navigating NetDocuments more efficiently or want help making the most of your setup, feel free to reach out to the team at Optiable. We’re happy to help.