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Anyone a fan of AutoHotkey here? I found this great script today and thought I'd share it.

Recent Items Filter and Browser - By David Tong

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What It Does (the following is a description by the author, not me)

This program addresses the question: ?How to start working again with a file that you were using fairly recently, but without interrupting your present train of thought?? Anything fiddly or slow risks evaporation of the ?brain stack? that you?ve spent time building, so the solution has to be quick and intuitive.

The Recent Documents feature in Windows is a start. It?s a collection of links to recently used files, but if you work with lots of files it?s not the answer because it lacks filtering or a decent interface. I tried RecentFilesView from NirSoft and ActualDoc from Flexigen, but the first lacks any filtering or convenience features, and the second seemed buggy and over-featured.

In the end I wrote this script and it suits my purpose very well. Compared with search programs like Everything or Copernic, which are great for finding non-recent files, I think it?s the instant response, easy filtering, and not having to type or even think about a search term that make the difference.

It would be nice to know if anyone else finds it useful too. Works in Windows 7, Vista, XP, W2k.

Main Features

? A very quick and intuitive way to access recently-used files and their folders.

? A hotkey, or a click on the Tray icon, triggers an instant Explorer-style display.

? Include or reject the file types you use most simply by checking boxes.

? Click column headers to specify sorting by date or file type plus date.

? Date filter rejects files accessed more than 1 to 98 weeks ago (set by user).

? The context menu accesses the actual file not just the link.

Other Features

? Special date filter setting ?99? acts as infinity (i.e., no time limit applied).

? Special date filter setting ?0? shows the past 48 hours and disables the other filters.

? Generates check boxes itself based on the file-types you actually use: the ones in ?Recent Documents?.

? Easy access from the Tray icon to change the Hotkey.

? User instructions via right-click on the Tray icon.

? Hotkey reminder on Status Bar.

The script contains user instructions and you can access them by right clicking on the tray icon when it's running. Or you can read them now from the script itself. Look for the label "DefineHelpMessages:" near the end.

The program decides what check boxes to include based on a frequency count of all the file types in Recent Items. To qualify for a check box, a file type must appear at least three times. Of the ones that qualified in this case doc was the most frequent and txt the least.

If AutoHotkey is installed on the computer you can use the ahk file. Otherwise use the exe file. Either way, put the file into its own folder and click on the file to run it. When it first runs it will put an ini file into the same folder and the window should appear, together with a new icon in the system tray.

Source: AutoHotkey Forums

Latest version download at: Recent Items Filter and Browser - Show Recent Items

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by making something simple into something complex that requires you to filter and all that, he ends up doing exactly what he tried not to, breaking the train of though by over complicating.

the problem is that as soon as you need to do more than open the recent files list on windows you end up doing exactly what he said he tried not to. The only solution to this that works is... Windows 7 with jump lists.

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Jump lists come close but still they don't have the powerful filtering, nor sorting by date or path of files nor per extension customization. It really depends on the number and types of recent documents you work on and set to show. And jump lists don't give you a combined view of recent documents. :) And then you need to have the program pinned or running to access the jump lists.

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and as I said, when you make it this complex. it becomes useless in it's own clutter and you're better of just openign the file the regular way. and it doesn't sound like you have used jump lists at all, I fail to see ANY use case where you would want to use this over a jump list.

in a use case that complex you're by then better off using windows search, faster as well. as opposed to pressing on and off all those filters.

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What's too complex for you may be desired for others, what works for you may be too minimalistic for others. You have made your point, if you have nothing positive to say, don't make assumptions that everyone's needs are the same and dismiss off the project as useless. As for Windows Search, most often it fails to find my stuff. Most people if you search enough on the internet you will find are dissatisfied with Windows Search.

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