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Subject: Re: Clear Documents From RECENTS in Finder/Favorites/Sidebar
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2024 09:16:22 +1200
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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.