I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from Finder/Favorites/Recents
in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the sidebar,
but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents folder,
it also deletes them from their original location-- and I don't want to
do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

--
There’s no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-04, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

Why not just right-click the Recents entry in the sidebar and remove it
from the sidebar completely?

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from Finder/Favorites/Recents
in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents folder,
it also deletes them from their original location-- and I don't want to
do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder", so
the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you cannot
clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple added to
overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the Finder Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making your
own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days so that
you can define the timeframe.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-04 13:28, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from Finder/Favorites/Recents
in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents folder,
it also deletes them from their original location-- and I don't want to
do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key
Right click on Finder in the dock
Relaunch


--
"It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
Winston Churchill

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/4/24 9:02 PM, Alan Browne wrote:

On 2024-07-04 13:28, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key
Right click on Finder in the dock
Relaunch

Thanks, tried it- unfortunately files still there...

--
Because we're here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05 13:34, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 9:02 PM, Alan Browne wrote:

On 2024-07-04 13:28, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original location--
and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key
Right click on Finder in the dock
Relaunch

Thanks, tried it- unfortunately files still there...

Why do you care?

Do you use the "Recents" sidebar item?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/4/24 1:50 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:

On 2024-07-04, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

Why not just right-click the Recents entry in the sidebar and remove it
from the sidebar completely?

I guess I'll have to do that. Makes it less obvious but there's still a
record of every file I've ever opened.

--
Because we're here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder", so
the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you cannot
clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple added to
overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the Finder Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making your
own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days so that
you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record of
every file I've ever opened...

--
Because we're here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05 13:38, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 1:50 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:

On 2024-07-04, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

Why not just right-click the Recents entry in the sidebar and remove it
from the sidebar completely?

I guess I'll have to do that. Makes it less obvious but there's still a record of every file I've ever opened.

If that's your worry, you'll have to do more than that...

...because that is exactly the sort of thing that the whole Spotlight
system can do regardless of whether you keep the Recents item in the
sidebar or not.

I'd have to look up the precise syntax, but anyone can create a
Spotlight query that says "show me all files opened since <date>"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/4/24 9:02 PM, Alan Browne wrote:

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key Right click on Finder in the dock Relaunch

Thanks, tried it- unfortunately files still there...

My suggestion was to remove the Recents item from the sidebar, which
means they wouldn't be there anymore.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder",
so the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you
cannot clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple added
to overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the Finder
Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making
your own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days
so that you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record of
every file I've ever opened...

Unless you are sharing your account with someone else (which is
unnecessary with macOS), there is no privacy issue here.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/4/24 1:50 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:

On 2024-07-04, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents
folder, it also deletes them from their original location-- and I
don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

Why not just right-click the Recents entry in the sidebar and remove it
from the sidebar completely?

I guess I'll have to do that. Makes it less obvious but there's still a record of every file I've ever opened.

There is a record of most actions you take on your computer. But those
records are accessible in your own macOS account.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-05 20:36:04 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from Finder/Favorites/Recents >>> in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to Trash,
or drag them there, and while that clears them from the Recents folder,
it also deletes them from their original location-- and I don't want to
do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder", so
the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you cannot
clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple added to
overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the Finder
Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making your
own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days so that
you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record of
every file I've ever opened...

There's only two ways around that:

1. Add your entire drive or Documents folder(s) to the
Privacy tab in the Spotlight ... but then you can't
use Spotlight to find them either.

2. Less usefully, rename documents to include the . character
at the start, then MacOS sees them as "invisible" and
won't include them in Recents (or Spotlight searches, nor
be easily visible in the Finder or Open / Save windows).

I'm not sure if either works for files already in the Recents "smart"
folder, but it should stop any new files from being included there.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/5/24 4:45 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-07-05 13:36, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original location--
and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder",
so the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you
cannot clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple added
to overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the Finder
Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making
your own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days
so that you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record of
every file I've ever opened...

Privacy from whom, exactly?

You know...them ;-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/5/24 4:35 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-07-05 13:34, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 9:02 PM, Alan Browne wrote:

On 2024-07-04 13:28, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original location--
and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key
Right click on Finder in the dock
Relaunch

Thanks, tried it- unfortunately files still there...

Why do you care?

Do you use the "Recents" sidebar item?

No, I don't use it.

I just happened to click on Recents and was surprised to see every file
I've used going back several presidential administrations.

--
Because we're here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/5/24 6:45 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:

On 2024-07-05, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/4/24 9:02 PM, Alan Browne wrote:

If JR's suggestion doesn't do it ... try relaunching Finder.

Hold down the option key Right click on Finder in the dock Relaunch

Thanks, tried it- unfortunately files still there...

My suggestion was to remove the Recents item from the sidebar, which
means they wouldn't be there anymore.

Yes, thanks, good suggestion-- that's what I ended up doing. I think
your above was mistakenly to my reply to Alan Brown, not yours.

--
Because we're here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-06 05:53, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/5/24 4:45 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-07-05 13:36, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3 iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original location--
and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart folder",
so the files listed there are not taking up any extra space and you
cannot clear them. It's another useless and buggy gimmick Apple
added to overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the
Finder Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making
your own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days
so that you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record of
every file I've ever opened...

Privacy from whom, exactly?

You know...them ;-)

No... ...I really don't.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-07-06, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/5/24 4:45 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-07-05 13:36, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3
iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent
folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original
location-- and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart
folder", so the files listed there are not taking up any extra
space and you cannot clear them. It's another useless and buggy
gimmick Apple added to overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the
Finder Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making
your own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days
so that you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record
of every file I've ever opened...

Privacy from whom, exactly?

You know...them ;-)

Where's your evidence that this information is accessible by them?

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/6/24 3:52 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:

On 2024-07-06, Colour Sergeant Bourne <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/5/24 4:45 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-07-05 13:36, Colour Sergeant Bourne wrote:

On 7/4/24 5:16 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-07-04 17:28:59 +0000, Colour Sergeant Bourne said:

I’m unable to clear 1,000+ document files from
Finder/Favorites/Recents in the Sidebar on my fully updated M3
iMac

I’ve tried Apple Icon/Recent Items/Clear Menu with no joy. Recent >>>>>> folders and apps clear but not the document files.

I’ve tried Finder/Go/Recents, or just clicking Recents from the
sidebar, but don’t see any way to Clear the document files.

I can select the documents in the Recent folder and hit Move to
Trash, or drag them there, and while that clears them from the
Recents folder, it also deletes them from their original
location-- and I don't want to do that.

So....how to clear (not delete) documents from the Recents Folder?

The "Recents" folder is basically just a system-made "smart
folder", so the files listed there are not taking up any extra
space and you cannot clear them. It's another useless and buggy
gimmick Apple added to overbloat MacOS.

The easiest option is to just ignore it and turn it off in the
Finder Preferences / remove it from the Finder windows' sidebar.

If you really need such a feature, you would be better off making
your own "smart" folder to list files opened within the last X days
so that you can define the timeframe.

It's more a privacy thing-- not wanting an easily available record
of every file I've ever opened...

Privacy from whom, exactly?

You know...them ;-)

Where's your evidence that this information is accessible by them?

There was a coded message in the arrangement of the pepperoni slices on
an extra large Costco pizza. The cashier tried to mix them up when I was checking out but I stopped her. Same issue at the exit door but I
prevailed again ;-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)