RecentFilesView

RecentFilesView is a lightweight and portable piece of software that enables you to view a list of all recently opened files, in order to retrace your steps easier. It does not include complicated options or configuration settings, so it can be handled by all types of users.

Portability perks

As there is no setup pack involved, you can drop the executable file in any part of the hard disk and just click it to run.
Another possibility is to save a copy of RecentFilesView to a USB flash disk or other mass storage device, in order to run it on any PC with minimum effort and previous installers.
What's more, the tool does not create new entries in the Windows registry or Start menu, so there are no traces left behind after its removal.

Clear-cut interface and options

The main application window has a simple look and intuitive structure, where a list is immediately populated with all recently accessed files at startup.

View and export data

Shown information includes the full path, date of creation, last modification and last access, whether the file is missing or not, its storage location, along with extension. This data can be copied to the Clipboard or exported to TXT, HTML, XML or CSV format for closer inspection. In addition, you can use a search function, get information from remote files, hide the ones from the registry, and more.

Evaluation and conclusion

The tool is very light on the system resources, since it runs on low CPU and RAM. We have not come across any issues in our tests, as it did not hang, crash or pop up error messages. All in all, RecentFilesView gets the job done and contains an intuitive set of features.