Can Spotlight search by date?

Yes, a little: Spotlight accepts some operators, like kind:pdf and date:yesterday. Finder’s search window gives you more control and lets you save the result.

How do I see the recently opened files on a Mac?

Finder’s Recents in the sidebar shows files by last opened date. Apple menu › Recent Items shows the last documents and apps you opened.

Mac file guides

How to find files by date on a Mac

By Vishva Variya · Updated October 31, 2026 · 3 min read

Short answer

In Finder, press ⌘F, change the Kind menu to Created date, Last modified date or Last opened date, and set a range such as “within last 7 days”. You can add more rules with + (kind, size) to narrow it. In Terminal, find ~/Documents -mtime -7 lists files modified in the last seven days.

How do I search by date in Finder?

1Open Finder and press ⌘F.
2Click the first menu (Kind) and choose Created date, Last modified date or Last opened date.
3Choose “within last”, “is before”, “is after” or “exactly”, then the dates.
4Click + to add another rule, such as Kind is PDF.

Click Save to keep the search as a Smart Folder. It updates as files change.

What’s the difference between created, modified and opened?

Created: when the file first appeared on this Mac. A download’s created date is the day you downloaded it.
Modified: the last time its contents changed.
Last opened: the last time you opened it. Spotlight tracks this; not every app updates it.

How do I find files by date in Terminal?

find ~/Documents -type f -mtime -7

-mtime -7 is modified within 7 days; -mtime +30 is older than 30 days. Swap in -newermt 2026-01-01 for an exact date.

Why can’t I find a file I know I saved last week?

It’s in iCloud Drive and only a placeholder is on this Mac. Search This Mac and iCloud Drive together.
The app saved it inside its own folder in ~/Library, which Finder search skips.
Spotlight hasn’t indexed that drive. External drives can be excluded in System Settings › Spotlight.

Finding files by date with Peekaboo

Peekaboo takes the date the way you’d say it and shows exactly how it read you as filter chips: kind, date, size, source and folder. If it misreads you, fix the chip. Nothing is sent anywhere; the parser runs on your Mac.

1Press ⌘F and type “pdfs from last week over 5 MB”.⌘F
2Check the chips under “Understood as …” and edit any that are off.
3From another app, press ⌥Space for Quick Search.⌥Space

Questions

Can Spotlight search by date?: Yes, a little: Spotlight accepts some operators, like kind:pdf and date:yesterday. Finder’s search window gives you more control and lets you save the result.
How do I see the recently opened files on a Mac?: Finder’s Recents in the sidebar shows files by last opened date. Apple menu › Recent Items shows the last documents and apps you opened.