Clearing all the files in the "Recents" Finder

[Scirroco]

Hello!
Not at all sure that I have posted this in the correct place, but I am running a few Macs, each with Sonoma 14.5 and I could not find any related threads on MacRumors.

I am becoming increasingly irritated with a 'feature' of Mac OS, namely the "Recents" facility (have it on or off in the Finder Sidebar). The hundreds of files pointed to in my "Recents" go back many years now and I just want them all gone (partly for security/privacy reasons)!

I have tried disabling Spotlight for my Mac Hard Drives, re-built the Spotlight Index with no drives selected etc. With that approach, I get an empty "Recents" panel in Finder, but as soon as I re-enable Spotlight to index the Hard Drive, the hundreds of "Recent" files reappear. All of my Documents and Desktop are stored in iCloud.

Surely there must be a way to flush out/clear all of the files tagged as being "Recent" without them being deleted, which seems to be the only option.

Am I being really stupid or unreasonable? Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Allyance]

WARNING DELETING RECENT WILL DELETE ORIGINAL PHOTO. To test put an original photo you don't want out on the desktop, rename it. Open "Recents" and move renamed photo to the trash, the photo on the desktop will disappear. Open trash and try to "Put back" does not exist any more. Be very careful, back up all your old photos first.

 

[galad]

Probably you need to delete the com.apple.lastuseddate#PS extended attribute from each file.

 

[Bigwaff]

Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Making the most of the Mac's 'Recents' folder feature

Your most recently-opened files are easily accessible from multiple places on a Mac, making it easy to get back to them.

appleinsider.com

 

[imacken]

I too am really surprised that there does not seem to be a way of clearing this out, especially considering how keen Apple is on Privacy.
I had to do some OneDrive stuff the other day, and my Recents list on finder is now full of hundreds of irrelevant files in the Recents list.
Surely there must be way of clearing this.

 

[Bigwaff]

Menu bar Apple > Recent > (scroll all way bottom) select Clear menu item

 

[imacken]

That doesn't work. Only clears the items in that menu. Doesn't affect the Recents smart folder that appears in Finder.

 

[Beligerent]

This is a problem on iPad OS too. In the files app the recents tab cant be cleared and it was a major privacy issue for me. My temporary solution was to FaceID protect the files app

 

[imacken]

As I said, I'm very surprised about this situation, especially bearing in mind that even if you disable showing it in Finder, when switched back on and all the files are still showing. Not so good if trying to hide a holiday surprise, or latest guitar purchase, etc.!

 

[BrianBaughn]

You do realize that "Recents" is really just a smart-search type folder that's baked into the Finder.

If you're afraid someone will, logged into your macOS User Account, re-add the Recents section to your sidebar to see what you've been up to…then log out of your account.

If you want to leave your account wide open for anyone in the house to use…I dunno.

Perhaps you could create a similar-acting Smart Search folder that excludes the type of files you want to hide, name it "Recents" and add it to the Sidebar. That might fool someone.

 

[imacken]

Of course, but that's not really the point. Personally, I'm not trying to hide anything, but I can see why some would want to. We should be able to clear it when required.
As I said in my first post, because of some maintenance stuff, mine is full of hundreds of 'random' files that I would really like to clear out.
It's a useful thing, but we should be able to clear it out. Been many threads on this over the last few years.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Of course, but that's not really the point. Personally, I'm not trying to hide anything, but I can see why some would want to. We should be able to clear it when required.
As I said in my first post, because of some maintenance stuff, mine is full of hundreds of 'random' files that I would really like to clear out.
It's a useful thing, but we should be able to clear it out. Been many threads on this over the last few years.

A user can make their own, similar (and much improved) search folder with the parameters they choose…or they can complain about a non-configurable "feature" of the macOS Finder.

I don't use the one baked into Finder because it's full of crap…as others have indicated. Is it still the new User Account default for "New Finder windows show:"? What a horrible idea!

 

[imacken]

I’m afraid that making your own Smart Folder doesn’t alter the fact the the default Recents is still always available and showing files that some users may not want to show.
Of course there are alternatives, but the simple fact is that this Recents folder should be clearable, but it would seem that it’s not.
Shame.

 

[Bigwaff]

Menu Finder > Settings ... uncheck "Recents" in the "Show these items in the sidebar"

 

[imacken]

That only stops it showing on the Sidebar. Doesn’t remove the files from the list. Check it on again and they are still all there.
Fact is that it can’t be cleared, apparently.

 

[Bigwaff]

Use OnyX

Titanium Software | Operating System Utilities for Mac - OnyX

OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files; run cleaning and computer maintenance tasks; configure some hidden parameters of many Apple applications; and more.

www.titanium-software.fr

 

[chabig]

That only stops it showing on the Sidebar. Doesn’t remove the files from the list.

What list? If you don't have it displayed in the Sidebar, you won't see it. Who cares if the file system knows what you've recently opened?

 

[imacken]

What list? If you don't have it displayed in the Sidebar, you won't see it. Who cares if the file system knows what you've recently opened?

Because it can very easily be seen by anyone who simply checks the box again. It should be clearable, simple as that.

 

[imacken]

Use OnyX

Titanium Software | Operating System Utilities for Mac - OnyX

OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files; run cleaning and computer maintenance tasks; configure some hidden parameters of many Apple applications; and more.

www.titanium-software.fr

Thanks again. I’ve used Onyx for a long time now, but I can’t see that it does that job. Unless I’m missing an option somewhere

 

[chabig]

Because it can very easily be seen by anyone who simply checks the box again. It should be clearable, simple as that.

Don’t let others use your account. What you’re asking for cannot be done. It’s not keeping a “list” so much as showing you metadata of file system activity.

 

[imacken]

I’ve already explained why I want to clear it. In my case, nothing to do with privacy, but I can see that being important to a lot of people.

 

[eRondeau]

Sorry but you've got a much larger issue here.

Your example is just one of many reasons Macs support multiple secure user accounts. Your Mac should have a user account FOR YOU ONLY that contains one Apple ID / iCloud account FOR YOU ONLY. Password protect it and don't tell anyone your password. Not your wife, not your kids, not your secretary at work. Everything you do under that account is PRIVATE for you only. Everyone else who needs access to that Mac can make their own user account and new Apple ID for themselves only. If you want to set-up a family account everyone shares that's great, but make a new user account and Apple ID for it too. And don't connect anything personal to that account.

If you want to keep an eye on your minor children's online activity MacOS will let you do that easily, but there's no reason in the world why your young kids should have unrestricted access to your browsing history and emails. User accounts are free, and Apple ID's are free (basic storage level). This is how it's supposed to be set-up.

(As an aside, someone in a 12+ person parents' group chat recently changed their iMessage name/photo to that of their 13-year-old kid. Turns out long ago the parent gave an old iPad to his kid with his Apple ID and password still on it. This kid had been silently spying on all his parents' chats, emails, photos, etc for months and this wasn't revealed until said kid unknowingly changed the iPad's Apple ID name to get access to some game. Pure iMessage chats are incredibly secure one-to-one -- until you give a logged-in device to a third party who can watch everything.)

As an owner of dozens of Macs and other Apple devices, syncing is great but unintended sharing can be very bad. Stop sharing user accounts and passwords and Apple ID's and start using MacOS the way it's intended to be used -- one account per person, securely. With single-account devices like iPhones and iPads and Apple Watches it's one person per device, period. And for goodness sake SIGN-OUT of old devices when you give them to your kids because you replaced it with a newer one.

 

[imacken]

I’m not sure who your comments are intended for, but I can only assume not me as I have explained more than once why I want to clear the list.
As an aside, I fully agree with your points.

 

[Bigwaff]

Thanks again. I’ve used Onyx for a long time now, but I can’t see that it does that job. Unless I’m missing an option somewhere

Launch OnyX. Select "Maintenance" tab. Select the "i" icon next to the "Cleaning > Other" toggle switch. Toggle "Recent Items" on. I'll leave testing this as an exercise for you, as I'm not at all concerned about the contents of the "Recents" smart folder. I am the only person logging into my account.

 

[imacken]

I’ll say for the 3rd or 4th time here, I am not concerned about privacy, nor do I allow others to login to my account. My reason for wanting to do this was made clear in my first post.

The Onyx thing doesn’t work. I reached out to the Onyx devs and they said it was not possible to clear that list.