"All my files" gone, how to tune recents?

[mark schneider]

Hey Mark, Actions is in the Finder window top tab/bar. If it's not there, just right click the top bar, and customise toolbar, and you should be able to drag and add action to the top tab.

Then you should be able to go to the recents tab, and click through actions and customise this All My Files options...

Hope that helps!! After using this for a few months, it's still not quite as good as the original All My Files, but good enough for my dad to day use!

Good Luck!

Thanks. But, not only is actions not present in my file bar, when I right click it does nothing. So back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, I have high sierra 10.13.2. A definite step backwards for apple. moving computing backwards with each update.

 

[wilzt]

Thanks. But, not only is actions not present in my file bar, when I right click it does nothing. So back to the drawing board.

Hmm, that's odd....So you open a new finder window, and you can't right click the top bar? You should at least see the back/forward arrows, share icon etc?

Right Click should show a tab menu of: icon and text, icon only, text only and customise toolbar....

 

[mark schneider]

Thanks. But, not only is actions not present in my file bar, when I right click it does nothing. So back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, I have high sierra 10.13.2. A definite step backwards for apple. moving computing backwards with each update.

All recents- actions does is allow me open in new tab, arrange by, show view options, and show search criteria.

 

[J.Gallardo]

I’m on holidays, away from my mac, but PERHAPS here’s the SOLUTION:
-go to folder

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Applications/

Into there, you’ll find some apps. It’s interesting “iCloudDrive”: you can put it on the dock or make an alias.
AND you’ll find “AllMyFiles.app” with a very descriptive icon.
I would try opening it. If it’s what I need, i’ll drop it on dock... or, better, it will get a place in my Finder windows.

 

[raediant]

Short instructions how to create Smart folder:
In Finder go to "File" and select "New Smart folder", you get Finder with search options.
Select Search "This Mac". Click + on right hand side and
select Kind is Document. Then option Click the right hand button (it now displays ...) and
you get more conditions, Keep "Any"
Change "Contents" to "Last Opened date" and set value to something you like (30 days?)
Click + and add last modified date and set to sensible value, + again..
Select Other and search for Date added, set to sensible value, +... you get the idea now.
Save as Smart Folder and it should do what you wanted... Can be tweaked quite extensively.

Thank you so much for this, I signed up for the forums just to post my praise. Thanks again.

 

[rehkram]

Thank you so much for this, I signed up for the forums just to post my praise. Thanks again.

Just a "me too" post from me too, thank you Honza1, works better for me than the old "All My Files" item.

I turned off the new "Recent" item, which I found to be completely useless, and moved the new smart folder entry to the top of the list in the left panel. Excellent.

Be aware that if you just did a clean install of High Sierra and put back a lot of apps, etc., it will find hordes of system-type files. I had to initialize the disk due to corruption in the startup volume, High Sierra update could not unmount the disk, and First Aid couldn't fix it.

Since I did the High Sierra install & rebuild just over a week ago I just set the new smart folder date searches to 7 days to eliminate this installation 'noise' from the view. A week is all I need to see usually, but as time goes by I can increase the date parameters' scopes as required.

 

[recovering_apple_fanboy]

It's crazy that they did away with this feature. I figured out a solution that fixes this issue, and finally gives me back "All My Files." (I'm running Mojave 10.14.6). I assume this will need to be done with each update (thanks Apple!).

Here are the instructions:

This process requires temporarily disabling the SIP (System Integrity Protection) using the recovery terminal app… To do so, restart your mac, hold command+R, then select "Utilities > Terminal". Type: 'csrutil disable’ and press enter. Then restart your mac normally.

Step 1:
Create a saved search copy of "Recents" by navigating to Recents... then click the actions gear, and select “Show search criteria”. Use the following criteria in place of the existing raw query:

((kMDItemContentTypeTree = public.content) || (kMDItemContentTypeTree = "com.microsoft.*"cdw) || (kMDItemContentTypeTree = public.archive))

Save the search as: search.savedSearch (and save it to your desktop or another easy to find location).

Step 2:
Navigate to:
System > Library > Core Services > Finder.app (note: you need to right click, and select show package contents) > Contents > Resources > MyLibraries

Step 3: Copy “Recents” to the desktop or documents folder.

Step 4: Right-click the copied “Recents” package and select “Show Package Contents.” Now, remember the saved search you created in step 1? Okay, good… copy and paste it into the “Resources” folder inside of the Recents package contents.

Step 5: Copy the updated “Recents” package into: System > Library > Core Services > Finder.app (note: you need to right click, and select show package contents) > Contents > Resources > MyLibraries

You will be asked to authenticate as a system admin. Type your login password.

Viola! “All My Files” is back in action.

IMPORTANT! Now you need to re-enable the SIP (System Integrity Protection) utility: Restart your mac, hold command+R, then open terminal again and type: 'csrutil enable' and press enter. Then restart normally.

Now you can open a new tab and get Recents which are truly, well... recent.

Cheers,
Carter

 

[cornhustlah]

It's crazy that they did away with this feature. I figured out a solution that fixes this issue, and finally gives me back "All My Files." (I'm running Mojave 10.14.6). I assume this will need to be done with each update (thanks Apple!).

Here are the instructions:

This process requires temporarily disabling the SIP (System Integrity Protection) using the recovery terminal app… To do so, restart your mac, hold command+R, then select "Utilities > Terminal". Type: 'csrutil disable’ and press enter. Then restart your mac normally.

Step 1:
Create a saved search copy of "Recents" by navigating to Recents... then click the actions gear, and select “Show search criteria”. Use the following criteria in place of the existing raw query:

((kMDItemContentTypeTree = public.content) || (kMDItemContentTypeTree = "com.microsoft.*"cdw) || (kMDItemContentTypeTree = public.archive))

Save the search as: search.savedSearch (and save it to your desktop or another easy to find location).

Step 2:
Navigate to:
System > Library > Core Services > Finder.app (note: you need to right click, and select show package contents) > Contents > Resources > MyLibraries

Step 3: Copy “Recents” to the desktop or documents folder.

Step 4: Right-click the copied “Recents” package and select “Show Package Contents.” Now, remember the saved search you created in step 1? Okay, good… copy and paste it into the “Resources” folder inside of the Recents package contents.

Step 5: Copy the updated “Recents” package into: System > Library > Core Services > Finder.app (note: you need to right click, and select show package contents) > Contents > Resources > MyLibraries

You will be asked to authenticate as a system admin. Type your login password.

Viola! “All My Files” is back in action.

IMPORTANT! Now you need to re-enable the SIP (System Integrity Protection) utility: Restart your mac, hold command+R, then open terminal again and type: 'csrutil enable' and press enter. Then restart normally.

Now you can open a new tab and get Recents which are truly, well... recent.

Cheers,
Carter

THANK YOU!