

Let’s say that I’ve written something for a client and two weeks later they ask me to make a change in the document. Recents is also useful when I’m looking for a file that I worked on in the past. I can double-click any one of them (or select multiple files and open them with Command (⌘) – O), and I’m back to work in seconds. I close all of my documents and apps, just out of habit, and the next day when it’s time to get back to work, I go into the Recents folder and those documents are listed at the top. When I’m working on my Mac, I’m a bit of a neat freak at the end of the workday. So as I mentioned earlier, the Recents folder is actually the results of a macOS search for documents of all file types in all locations, sorted in descending time order. The most recent file is a screenshot I took for this article today at 10:33 AM, followed by a document from yesterday at 11:46 AM, and so on. What you’re seeing is a listing of the actual files, so deleting any of the files in Recents gets rid of them for good… unless you realize the error of your ways and want them back, in which case you can either use the helpful Undo item in the Finder menu (Command (⌘) – Z) or open the Trash, select the file(s), and then use File > Put Back (Command (⌘) – Delete) to place them back in their original location.Īlso in list view you’ll notice that the files are listed in reverse chronological order. That’s why I provided the warning earlier to not delete items from the Recents folder unless you really mean to get rid of them. Recents finds all of your files located anywhere, and lists them in reverse chronological order They’re found everywhere - in various iCloud folders, in my Downloads folder, in Documents, even in my Dropbox folder. Looking at the contents of my Recents folder below in list view, I can click on various files and press Command (⌘) – I (Get Info), and find the path to the files.

They’re located in a bunch of places on your Mac. Even files that you’ve exported appear in Recents. That’s an apt name because any file you’ve created or downloaded that are on your Mac or in iCloud Drive are going to be in this folder.
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In older versions of macOS and Mac OS X, the Recents folder was named “ All My Files”. This means that the last file that you opened will be at the top of the list (or in the top left corner if you’re viewing the folder contents by icon). The Recents folder lists all files in your Home folder on your Mac and in iCloud Drive, sorted by Date Last Opened.

Unless you really mean to get rid of a file, don’t delete it from Recents! NEVER delete files from the Recents folder, as they are actually files elsewhere on the Mac. Still don’t see it? Not a problem - you can go to the Finder menu under Go and select Recents, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift – Command (⌘) – F to open the folder.Ī word of warning - some newer Mac users think that the items in the Recents folder are duplicates of files found elsewhere on their Macs, so they delete these “duplicates” in a fruitless attempt to save space. Click that, and the folders that have been set as Favorites are listed. If you just see the word “Favorites” and nothing is listed beneath it, hover your mouse pointer over the word and you’ll see the word “Show” appear. The Recents folder is accessible from under Favorites in the Finder Sidebar
