Microsoft and Apple have teamed up to introduce Recent Files widgets to Mac, meaning you can open recent Office files with just one click.

In June this year, Microsoft rolled out a Recent File widget for the Microsoft 365 app on iPhone and iPad before adding widgets for standalone Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications on Apple portable devices two months later. Now, Microsoft and Apple have gone even further by extending this offer to Mac users. Therefore, you can view and open your most recently viewed Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files from your Mac desktop.

To use this new feature, right-click anywhere on your Mac desktop and click “Edit Widgets.”

Then you can either type Word, ExcelOr Power point in the search box at the top of the left pane, or scroll through the list of apps to find the one you’re looking for.

From here, you can choose whether you want a one, two, four, or six file widget by hovering over the appropriate size and clicking the green “+” icon in the upper left corner.

The most recent files will then display in the widget on your desktop. Simply click on the corresponding card to open it in an instant.

If you’re not sure which file you want to see, the widget also lets you open the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint home page by clicking outside the list of files in the widget. Widgets also probably work from Notification Center.

While Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Recent Files widgets are already widely available to iPhone and iPad owners after testing, Mac widgets are currently only accessible to Microsoft 365 Insiders using version 16.91 (Build 24110320 ) or later. Since this is an expansion of an existing feature, we expect it to roll out to all Mac users in the coming months once the issues are resolved.

Source: Microsoft 365 Blog