M.16 Convenience Features for Finding Files

If you enable Recentf mode, with M-x recentf-mode, the `File' menu includes a submenu containing a list of recently opened files. M-x recentf-save-list saves the current recent-file-list to a file, and M-x recentf-edit-list edits it.

When Auto-image-file minor mode is enabled, visiting an image file displays it as an image, not as text. Likewise, inserting an image file into a buffer inserts it as an image. This works only when Emacs can display the relevant image type. The variables image-file-name-extensions or image-file-name-regexps control which file names are recognized as containing images.

The M-x ffap command generalizes find-file with more powerful heuristic defaults (see section AC.28.3 Finding Files and URLs at Point), often based on the text at point. Partial Completion mode offers other features extending find-file, which can be used with ffap. See section E.3.4 Completion Options.