batch script that tells me when was the last time a file has been accessed

Question

I have a list of sales orders in a folder. I want a batch script that can output into a txt file, when were all the files last accessed but not necessarily modified.

Answer 1

On partitions with NTFS file system there are 3 file dates: creation date, last modification date and last access date.

The command

dir "path to directory" /TA /OD

lists all files of the directory according to last access date with last accessed file at bottom.

dir "path to directory" /TA /O-D

list the files in reverse order with last accessed file at top.

It is of course possible to redirect the output into a file by appending >"Name of list file with path.log"

But don't trust the last access time too much as it is really not reliable on when a file was last time opened for read only.

For more parameters of command dir open a command prompt window and enter dir /?

Answer 2

As others have said, Last Access Date is not reliable on NTFS. But if you wanted to extract it anyway, here is one way, but it will need a bit more parsing:

wmic DataFile where "Name='C:\\Users\\Default\\NTUSER.DAT'" get LastAccessed /value

Answer 3

Last Access has been turned off by default for many years.

This command shows the setting of any computer you are interested in.

fsutil behavior query disablelastaccess

For using lastaccess - programs that don't open a file under user direction (eg search indexers, icon extractors like explorer, property sheets, etc) have to go back and restore last access to what it was before they opened it.