How to Change the Last Opened Date for a File on a Mac

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

Mac files all have dates associated with them, especially the last date they were opened or modified. The date will show up next to your files if you display them in list form. If you want to change the date associated with the file you can do so with the Terminal. The Terminal is a utility program for Mac computers that allows users to input command lines and control the computer with them.

Advertisement

Step 1

Open the "Go" menu and select "Utilities." Click on "Terminal."

Video of the Day

Step 2

Type the following into the Terminal window: "touch -mt YYYYMMDDhhmm." YYYY is the year, as in 2001. MM is the month, like 03. DD is the day as in 06. Hh is the hour as in 08. Mm is the minute as in 34.

Advertisement

Step 3

Select the file whose date you want to change and drag it over the Terminal window. Drop the file into the Terminal. The file's file path will show up in the Terminal window.

Advertisement

Step 4

Click "Return" on the keyboard.

Video of the Day

Advertisement

Advertisement

references