how to edit "Recent Items" list (Finder, Big Sur)

[chasg]

Hi All,

I'd like to be able to remove specific entries in the "Recent Items" list under the apple menu in the Finder (without having to empty the entire list).

Some Googling has found that they used to be kept in com.apple.sharedfilelist in Mojave, and in com.apple.recentitems.plist in some earlier versions of OSX, but I can't find either of those in my Big Sur install.

Can anyone offer any insights? (and also ways to edit the plist file once I find the right one?).

Cheers!

Chas

 

[0128672]

Search for the recents.app. I found it by typing "recents" into Spotlight Search. Had no idea it existed.

 

[chasg]

Do you mean this app? https://recentsapp.com Found it online, but not on my Mac. Maybe you downloaded it a while ago?

Or perhaps I am misunderstanding your reply. Regardless, I searched around on my Mac for "recents" and "recents.app", no relevant results (and I did search the Library

 

[0128672]

Do you mean this app? https://recentsapp.com Found it online, but not on my Mac. Maybe you downloaded it a while ago?

Or perhaps I am misunderstanding your reply. Regardless, I searched around on my Mac for "recents" and "recents.app", no relevant results (and I did search the Library

No, I mean there's a hidden app (or at least I can't find where it lives) on your Mac called recents.app and it's a Finder window of your recents. It's a view so you can't delete items from it without deleting the original.

 

[chasg]

Oh, you're referring to _that_ finder window! I sortof forgot about this one, I almost never use it. It's a smart folder, and you're right, deleting from there will delete the actual file.

I'm afraid that it's not related to the "Recent Items" list under the Apple Menu though (which, to be clear, is what I'm trying to modify). But thanks for trying to help, I really appreciate it.

 

[0128672]

Oh, you're referring to _that_ finder window! I sortof forgot about this one, I almost never use it. It's a smart folder, and you're right, deleting from there will delete the actual file.

I'm afraid that it's not related to the "Recent Items" list under the Apple Menu though (which, to be clear, is what I'm trying to modify). But thanks for trying to help, I really appreciate it.

ok, thanks for demystifying that. I see that it only contains documents, not apps as well, but for those documents, it does match what shows under Finder recents.

 

[chasg]

ok, thanks for demystifying that. I see that it only contains documents, not apps as well, but for those documents, it does match what shows under Finder recents.

very true.