Hello,
I understand how to manage recent items in Apple>Recent Items>Clear Menu and setting the number of items listed in System Preferences>General>Recent Items but my question relates to the Recents folder in Finder. This folder contains years of documents that I've opened and that I don't want to see or tracked. Why doesn't setting preferences to 10 items keep the Recents folder in Finder to 10 items?
Thanks!
iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)
Recent Items and the Recents in the Finder are unrelated.
Seems confusing that these are not related but OK, so forget "Recent Items". I can control that but the only way I can see to control the latter is to hide it in the sidebar and let it continue.
The question then becomes why does my Mac store all mail downloads and every doc that has been opened since the dawn of time in "Recents in Finder" without being able to control it?
Sorry for hammering this question into the ground.
The Recents item in the Finder sidebar is similar to a smart folder. Its criteria for showing files is not subject to user changes.
If it doesn’t work well for you the best course of action is to create your own smart folders and ignore Recents.
For example you can make a smart folder that shows only files created today, or files modified in the last week, or any number of combinations and it will do whatever you choose.
Thank You Luis for your concise answer. I will just hide it in the sidebar.
I can live with the years of recent docs, but every mail download for years is a bit much. Don't get the logic of that one.
Thanks again
I am curious at to why some people see that many documents in "Recents".
I actually never use it, but I went and looked and here is what I saw: just 25 documents, where "Date last opened" was between yesterday and today. Granted this is a weekend, and I have been out and not been using my mac much. I wonder how many documents will show up tomorrow.
Your response makes me believe there is something I am missing but I cannot find it. I have tried setting System Preferences>General>Recent items (docs, apps and servers) to none, 5, 10, and 20 with no luck. I've also tried "clear menu" in Apple>Recent Items also with no result. Searching outside of this forum there seem to be quite a few folks with the same question and usually get the short answer stating the settings previously mentioned.
Strange but what's new?
So I recently cleared my ‘recent items’ folder thinking it was just a log but apparently not!! I’ve since read it’s the actual files just a quick link - not good. Makes me hate this useless folder even more.
Ive emptied the trash folder but does anyone know a way to restore?? Help! Please!
fleurieb83 wrote:
Thank you - Yes I have done this as far as possible but unfortunately my most recent back up was 2 weeks ago! Any other top tips for the most recent stuff? Thanks!
The only other way I know is file recovery software or service. I don’t know of any specific names. Just don’t use your computer until you recover them.
Ive emptied the trash folder but does anyone know a way to restore?? Help! Please!
Just restore from you backup.
Thank you - Yes I have done this as far as possible but unfortunately my most recent back up was 2 weeks ago! Any other top tips for the most recent stuff? Thanks!
Recents folder in Finder
