On MacOs Monterey 12.5.1, want to clear recents results. In Finder, selecting Recents > Top Menu > Go > Recents Folder > Clear Menu, outcome is that the list of recents only disappears from menu, but does not clear from the Finder's Recents folder results.
How do I clear the Recents in Finder if not the above method?
The Go menu clear function is just for clearing the list of recent folders in the Go menu. It is separate from the Recents view in the sidebar. If you clear out the Recents sidebar view, you'll actually be deleting files.
Also worth checking is the Recent Items under the Apple menu. That does have an option to clear it, at the bottom. However on my machine the contents of that menu don't match what's in the Finder Recents view, so the criteria it uses is unclear.
Recent files are sorted by date, and clearing the menu item doesn’t remove the smart search from the Finder or back date those files to make them no longer recent.
If you find the smart search to be a waste of space - remove it as follows. No files are moved, changed, or deleted whether you have or remove this item in the Finder (just as no files change when you clear the menu of recent apps and files).
Hold down the Control key and select remove from the Sidebar if you don't want the finder to show a collection of the most recent files visible to your user on the Mac.
Just like a library has a catalog of all items, the Mac dates items on the filesystem and sorts them by recency by default.
If you need a different collection of files, you can make your own smart search criteria and add that instead.
Recents is just a smart folder that the system shows you by default and provides a custom icon of an analog clock.
