macOS bugs galore? Recent items not removed from list after file deleted

TidBITS Talk
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Has anybody else noticed that when choosing a doc either from  > Recent Items > Documents or by right-clicking an app icon in the Dock, that a listed item can belong to a doc that was recently deleted and nevertheless its name/icon will remain listed in that menu? Worse yet, if you select it, nothing happens. But there is no user feedback whatsoever as to why nothing happens. I fail to see a reason such an item should remain listed there for a user to select if no such file exists anymore.

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A deleted file is still a recent item, regardless of its status at the moment. I’m not sure of the intent of the Dock icon’s presentation of documents, if it’s supposed to be recent ones, open ones etc. I don’t use either of those much.

I agree the lack of indication is bothersome. ie, if it was grayed out in the Recents or App in Dock, that would be a clue to users, or if selecting it, a window indicating that it’s in the Trash and offering to show it or recover it would be a friendly gesture of the OS. As you’re describing it, it’s not typical of what we’d expect from Apple.

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Yeah, I guess I’m more concerned with the item being left there for the user to select as if it could still be opened, than with the listing indicating this had been a recently opened item. In that sense, it would suffice to gray out the entry. Though, if given an option, I personally would prefer not to have such clutter left in there. I’m not using this as some kind of historical reference of what docs I had opened before.

It becomes a more accute issue when the original doc is no longer around, but you have a new doc of the same name and type. Now two identical icons and file names show up in those lists and the user is left with no clue as to which one to select to actually get the doc they are trying to find to open.

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I ran into that exact situation. IIRC, the document that is higher (closer to the menu bar) in the list was the more recently opened file.

Also IIRC, when I went to the Recents folder in Finder to declutter the Recents list, I found that deleting an item from the Recents folder would delete the original item (even if it was no longer on the Recents list), without warning. That was quite a while ago and I hope that behavior has been changed. I thought it was extremely rude.

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Now if only I knew how to memorize that apparently top listed is most recent.

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