If you use your Mac daily, you’ll know all about how easy it is for your device to become cluttered. And when this happens, accessing what we need becomes more difficult. But clearing recents on a Mac isn’t too challenging, and doing so regularly will help keep problems at bay.
In this article, we’ll look at how to clear the Recents folder on a Mac. We’ll also look at how you can stop your web browsers from becoming cluttered.
Before we start
When clearing recent files and folders on your Mac, it’s essential to ensure that you do so safely and securely. The easiest way to do this is by using reputable third-party software, such as MacKeeper.
MacKeeper can also help you delete junk files and fix other issues that might impact your Mac’s performance. Download MacKeeper and give it a try to see if it works for you.
How to clear recents on Mac
If you want to delete recent folders on your Mac, doing so is pretty straightforward.
How to clear recent folders in Mac:
1. Go to the Apple logo in the top left of your screen
2. Select Recent Items and hit Clear Menu
Afterwards, your menu should be completely blank.
How to clear recents in Finder
If you want to clear your recents in Finder instead, you can do this without too many problems. All you need to do is follow the steps below.
To clear recents in Mac Finder:
1. Open Finder on your Mac
2. Click on Go in your device’s toolbar
3. From the dropdown menu, go to Recent Folders and press Clear Menu
How to turn off recent files in Finder
Sometimes, you might need the files in your recents. In such cases, deleting them altogether isn’t a good idea.
Fortunately, your Mac gives you an option to turn off recent files. You can do this from the Finder app.
How to turn off recent files:
1. Open Finder and go to the Recents tab
2. Click on the section while holding down the Ctrl button at the same time
3. Select Remove from Sidebar
Once you’ve completed the above steps, your changes should take place immediately.
How to delete recent searches in Mac browsers
Keeping your Mac clean doesn’t only involve maintaining your offline files. Over time, your web browsers will also become cluttered with site addresses and login details that you no longer use.
But don’t worry — removing your recent history is easy, regardless of whether you use Google Chrome or Safari. Here’s how to do both.
How to delete recent searches in Chrome
If you want to delete recent searches in Google Chrome, you can do so from your browser. Here’s how to do it:
1. Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of Chrome
2. Click on History
3. Select History again on the expanded tab
4. Click on Clear browsing data
5. Make sure the Browser history box is ticked and select Clear data
How to delete recent searches in Safari
As Safari is a different browser from Google Chrome, the steps to delete recent searches are a little different. Here’s how to delete recent searches in Safari:
1. Open Safari and go to the Safari option in the toolbar
2. Click on Safari and choose Clear History
3. When the popup window appears, expand the dropdown menu and select how far back you want to delete your history. Then, hit the Clear History button
How to delete recent searches using MacKeeper
If you use Chrome as your primary browser, the best way to erase recent Google searches is by downloading a third-party tool that enables you to do this. You can also clear your Chrome history manually, and we’ve written a full article about that.
Below, you’ll find out how to delete Google Chrome caches using MacKeeper.
How to delete recent searches on Chrome using MacKeeper:
1. Open the MacKeeper app and go to Safe Cleanup
2. Go to Caches, and tick the box next to Google Chrome caches
3. Select the Clean Junk Files button at the bottom of the window
To keep your Google Chrome browser organized, you can set MacKeeper to scan your device daily. Go to the MacKeeper logo in your toolbar, select Preferences, and tick the “Scan my Mac daily” option.
Although you can clear your recent history manually using Safari, using software like MacKeeper is much easier and will help you keep everything organized better.
How to delete recent searches in Safari:
1. Open MacKeeper and click on the Safe Cleanup tab
2. Tick the Check All box
Tap on the Clean Junk Files button
Like Chrome, you can automatically scan Safari to clear your cache. The steps are identical to those listed in the previous section.
Clearing recents on your Mac is easy
Having read this article, you should now know how to clear recents on your Mac. Whether you want to delete recent folders or remove your web browser history, you don’t need to worry about taking complex steps on your Mac.
Automating this task using software is the easiest way to keep everything in check and save you a lot of time.
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