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Each time that you open a file from Windows Explorer or from a standard open/save dialog-box, the name of the file that you opened is recorded by the Windows operating system.

Some of the names are saved into the ‘Recent’ folder. Other are saved into the Registry.

“Recent” Folder

The “Recent” folder is usually located under C:\Documents and Settings\[Your Profile]\Recent (The path is different under Windows Vista), and it contains shortcuts to the recently opened files.

Using Environment.SpecialFolder Enumeration you can retrieve directory paths to system special folders as “Recent” folder .

Registry

Registry: If you are using open/save dialog box for file selection, the selected file name is added to the files list under

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU

The following method will give you an idea how to read saved data:

public static string GetRecentlyOpenedFile(string extention)
{
   RegistryKey regKey = Registry.CurrentUser;
   string recentFile = string.Empty;
   regKey = regKey.OpenSubKey("Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\ComDlg32\\OpenSaveMRU");

   if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(extention))
       extention = "html";

   RegistryKey myKey = regKey.OpenSubKey(extention);

   if (myKey == null && regKey.GetSubKeyNames().Length > 0)
       myKey = regKey.OpenSubKey(
                      regKey.GetSubKeyNames()[regKey.GetSubKeyNames().Length - 2]);
   if (myKey != null)
   {
       string[] names = myKey.GetValueNames();
       if (names != null && names.Length > 0)
       {
           recentFile = (string)myKey.GetValue(names[names.Length - 2]);
       }
    }
    return recentFile;
}