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From: Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Clear Documents From RECENTS in Finder/Favorites/Sidebar
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2024 13:45:30 -0700
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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 <bourne@rorke.za> 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>"