There is a simple way allowing you to open recent files inside Word or Excel.
You can simply press Alt + F, which will open the file menu then you press the number, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 in front of the recent document that you want to open.
In Word and Excel from 2010, you need to enable the recent document feature. To enable recent documents, click on File, then Recent, at the bottom of the Recent windows, check the box next to Quickly access this number of Recent Documents.
