In Windows 10, there is a lesser known ability to see recently modified files from a specific app. This list of files will include only the files related to the app which was used to modify or create them. This way, you can find a file that you were looking for much faster. Let's see how it can be done.
As you may already know, Windows 10 collects recently used files and frequently used folders in a new default location in File Explorer. A special virtual folder Quick Access keeps links to pinned folders along with recently used locations and files. If you modify or create a lot of files, it can be difficult to locate the required file later in that folder, because the list of files will be huge.
But you can use search to filter recently used files by an app.
This lesser known ability in Windows 10 is provided by Cortana, which is represented by the search box on the taskbar. We already saw how to use it for simple calculations. Now, let's see how to use it to find all recently created or modified files by a specific program.
To see recently modified files by an app in Windows 10, do the following.
- Click the search box in the taskbar to activate it.
- Type the app's name in the search box.
- Once the app is found by Cortana, the list of recently created and modified files will be displayed under its name.
In the example above, we used the built-in WordPad app to find its recent files. The same can be done for Paint.
Keep in mind that some apps do not support this useful feature. They can prevent Windows from tracking their recent files. For example, if some app has no file association set, the list of recently modified files will be empty for that app.
The ability to search for recently created or modified files relies on jump list functionality. If you have jump lists disabled, it won't work. Keep this in mind.
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