Make your own Fresh with Spotlight and Saved Searches

I've recently been trying out an application called Fresh which I first heard about through the a nano mission on MacHeist. Basically this app gives you a keyboard accessible drawer that contains the most recently used and modified files on your system plus a section called the "Cooler" where you can keep frequently used files. The app is really cool and has a great look and feel. The problem is I don't use it very often and, since I try to keep my computing experience as minimal as possible, I've been trying to figure out if I really need it running.

I realized that I could replicate most of the core functionality with services built right into my Mac so I dug in and now have one less piece of software running during my day. Here's the steps I went through to replicate this app's functionality:

1. I created a new "Smart Folder" called "Fresh" in Finder.
2. I set the search criteria to show me files "Last Opened within the last 3 days" and "Last modified within the last 3 days".
   
3. I then created another "Smart Folder" called "Cooler" which searched for the Spotlight comment "coolit".

Now, whenever I need a recently used / modified file I just open the Fresh smart folder (which I plan on attaching a keyboard shortcut through Quicksilver to) and use my recent files. I can do the same thing with the Cooler folder so whenever I add the spotlight comment "coolit" the file will show up in "Cooler". Easy, simple, clean, and free!

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