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monterey 12.4 how to clear Recents

How do I clear my Recents folder? (Not Safari, but Recents shown in Finder)

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on May 30, 2022 4:40 AM

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Posted on May 30, 2022 5:18 AM

Rawegg wrote:

Okay. I'd like to know how that works. I have a huge list of files in Recents. Seems unnecessary.

Recents is a Smart Folder. There are no files stored in that folder as it is a search, not a real folder.

13 replies

May 30, 2022 6:03 AM in response to Rawegg

Ah. If I remove a file, then it will not be listed. Right?

It won't be listed, but it won't exist anymore, either. Deleting an item from a Smart Folder deletes the original file.

Okay, I get now that Recents is a smart folder; i.e., a search repository. So if I set up a smart folder for excel files, then how do I stop them from showing up in the Recents search? Won't I just double the amount of space used?

Again, there is nothing stored in there.

Open Recents and Show Path Bar from the View menu in Finder.

Select a file in Recents and look at the path at the bottom of the window. That will show you where the actual file is stored.

May 30, 2022 6:03 AM in response to Rawegg

These are just search results, there is no duplication of files.

For example, you may create a smart folder for excel files, anoth for files created today which are smaller than 10MB, yet another for all excel files, say.

If you create a new excel file, it will show in all three if the above (and in Recents as well) and yet it is still only one file.

May 30, 2022 10:45 AM in response to PRP_53

AFAIK - once any file has been opened, even if the file has been deleted, it will still appear in the Recent Folder.

That is not normally true. The metadata that is indexed by the Recents Search criteria is tied to the file, not stored separately. However, as it is based on the Spotlight index, I imagine it is possible that the Spotlight index failed to purge the references to the original file.

monterey 12.4 how to clear Recents

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