• Basics
  • Terminal

What changed on your Mac today? Find recently added and modified files in seconds

When space disappears or a file goes missing, the question is what changed recently. Finder, Spotlight and Terminal can each answer it, sorted by size.

4 min read

Your free space dropped by 20 GB since yesterday, or you saved something and cannot find it. Either way, the question is the same: what changed recently?

In Finder

  1. Open a Finder window and press Command F to search.
  2. Choose This Mac.
  3. Change the first rule to Last modified date, within last, 1 days.
  4. Click + to add File Size, is greater than, 100 MB to see only large files.
  5. Click Save to keep it as a Smart Folder in the sidebar.

Recents in the Finder sidebar also shows recently opened files, which is quicker for a lost document.

In Terminal, with Spotlight

# Modified in the last day, anywhere Spotlight indexes
mdfind 'kMDItemContentModificationDate >= $time.today(-1)' | head -50

In Terminal, by size

The most useful when space vanished, because it finds large files whatever Spotlight indexes:

# Files over 100 MB changed in the last day, in your home folder
find ~ -type f -mtime -1 -size +100M -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h

Change -mtime -1 to -7 for the last week. Hidden caches and app data show up here too, which Finder's search may miss.

What usually turns up

  • A download, video export or screen recording.
  • An iPhone backup made when the phone was plugged in.
  • A cache or virtual disk that grew, such as Docker's.
  • Photos downloading originals from iCloud.

If the space went but nothing new shows up, see Mac lost disk space overnight and deleted files but storage not freed.

Common questions

How do I find recently modified files on a Mac?

In Finder, press Command F and set Last modified date within last 1 days. In Terminal, find ~ -type f -mtime -1 lists files changed in the last day.

How do I find large files added recently on a Mac?

Run find ~ -type f -mtime -1 -size +100M in Terminal, or add a File Size rule to a Finder search.

Can I save a search for recent files in Finder?

Yes. Click Save after setting the rules, and it appears as a Smart Folder in the sidebar.

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