How do I reset, clear or modify a file's "Last opened" date?

Question

How do I reset, clear or modify a file's "Last opened" date?

Hi, running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7.

Looking for a way to clear, modify or reset a file's "Last opened" date.

I have tried:
- Resetting Spotlight index
- PRAM reset
- Trashing com.apple.finder.plist
- Trashing com.apple.spotlight.plist

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Posted on Jul 12, 2009 4:52 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 12, 2009 5:04 PM in response to PockyRevolution

Open and save the file.

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Answer 2

Jul 12, 2009 5:28 PM in response to baltwo

Thank you for the reply.

However I wish to change the date to sometime in the past.

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Answer 3

dechamp

Level 4

3,495 points

Jul 12, 2009 5:42 PM in response to PockyRevolution

Here's a page with some instructions on how to use Terminal to do what you want:
http://danilo.ariadoss.com/howto-change-date-modified-date-created-mac/

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 12, 2009 5:43 PM in response to PockyRevolution

That's beyond my ken, but you might search and peruse the AppleScript forum under OS X Technologies.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Jul 12, 2009 6:34 PM in response to PockyRevolution

Use the unix 'touch' command. Open the Terminal and type 'man touch' and it will give you the usage details. For each file, you can type

touch -t 19690629123455

Make sure you leave a space after the date/time and drag the file to the terminal window. Then hit return.

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Answer 6

Jul 12, 2009 9:42 PM in response to PockyRevolution

PockyRevolution wrote:
However I wish to change the date to sometime in the past.

Trying to get away with something, huh? Bear in mind that just because you change the date on the file in the filesystem, the file itself may contain the date.

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Answer 7

Applemaz

Level 1

130 points

Sep 3, 2009 2:53 PM in response to PockyRevolution

Using the UNIX command touch will only affect the Created date and the Last Modified date. It will, however NOT affect the Last Opened date.

Does anyone have a solution (other than changing the computer date, opening a file then changing it back to the current date) for changing the Last Opened date??

Message was edited by: Applemaz

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