The modified date does not correspond to the "most recently accessed" date, so sorting by modified date may just add a level of confusion.

Is there any way to set the default sort by the actual date last accessed?

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/554d29777f8b680a9a4b0433ebd3e636534b207c

commit 554d29777f8b680a9a4b0433ebd3e636534b207c
Author: Naoki Fukino <fukino@chromium.org>
Date: Mon Aug 28 13:05:37 2017

Files app: Set initial sort order of Recent folder.

In recent folder, modified date is the most important field to sort files.
We support sorting files by name, size, etc... in Recent folder.
However, when the user enter Recent folder, the initial sort order should be
modified date.

Bug:  759479 
Cq-Include-Trybots: master.tryserver.chromium.linux:closure_compilation
Change-Id: I9ba089fe4fd4db921e2a60c25fdc9274e8fad66c
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/637553
Commit-Queue: Naoki Fukino <fukino@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Tatsuhisa Yamaguchi <yamaguchi@chromium.org>
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#497744}
[modify] https://crrev.com/554d29777f8b680a9a4b0433ebd3e636534b207c/ui/file_manager/file_manager/foreground/js/app_state_controller.js

#1: By design, Recent view retrieves files by last modified time, not last accessed time.

This bug requires manual review: We are only 5 days from stable.
Please contact the milestone owner if you have questions.
Owners: amineer@(Android), cmasso@(iOS), ketakid@(ChromeOS), govind@(Desktop)

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

I'm requesting a merge to M61, because the sort order in Recent folder is the critical part of this new feature.
Displaying recently-modified files in their size etc will not make sense, so I marked this as a blocker.

Approving merge to M61.

Ignore my desire to see files in last-accessed order rather than last-modified order.

If I am reviewing files in different folders,and select name or type or size or date, I would expect that sort order to stay the same when I moved to a different folder.

Example, I am looking for files by name, As I move between folders, I am always seeing "a" at the top. But according to this change, when I select Recent folder, I now see the most recent modified at the top.

I do not see the logic in that, and it provides a confusing UX.

fukino@ do we have any CLs ready for this?

I'm hoping there will be a way to sort by or view 'last accessed' order also.

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/d0e0402515fb98f5f4455c4fbe0d6542ebbbe8f1

commit d0e0402515fb98f5f4455c4fbe0d6542ebbbe8f1
Author: Naoki Fukino <fukino@chromium.org>
Date: Thu Aug 31 00:34:22 2017

Files app: Set initial sort order of Recent folder.

In recent folder, modified date is the most important field to sort files.
We support sorting files by name, size, etc... in Recent folder.
However, when the user enter Recent folder, the initial sort order should be
modified date.

TBR=fukino@chromium.org

(cherry picked from commit 554d29777f8b680a9a4b0433ebd3e636534b207c)

Bug:  759479 
Cq-Include-Trybots: master.tryserver.chromium.linux:closure_compilation
Change-Id: I9ba089fe4fd4db921e2a60c25fdc9274e8fad66c
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/637553
Commit-Queue: Naoki Fukino <fukino@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Tatsuhisa Yamaguchi <yamaguchi@chromium.org>
Cr-Original-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#497744}
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/644513
Reviewed-by: Naoki Fukino <fukino@chromium.org>
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/branch-heads/3163@{#1022}
Cr-Branched-From: ff259bab28b35d242e10186cd63af7ed404fae0d-refs/heads/master@{#488528}
[modify] https://crrev.com/d0e0402515fb98f5f4455c4fbe0d6542ebbbe8f1/ui/file_manager/file_manager/foreground/js/app_state_controller.js

Closing, as the spec for M61 was merged.

Re: #8
I think the behavior (seeing the most recent modified at the top in Recent) is common in other OS's similar folders, and it is not so confusing.
Let's track the feedbacks once it is shipped.

Re: #9
The commit in comment #2 is the only CL for this issue.

Re: #10
Let's handle the request to use last-access time in a separate bug.

#10: Thanks for feature request. I filed Issue 760813 for sorting by last accessed time.