How can I view the metadata for a file?
Sometimes, we might ask you to take a look at the metadata for a file to find out what it contains. It's not as scary as it sounds.
Download the Alfred Metadata Tool and install it.
Once you've installed it, launch it and drag a file to the left box for analysis.
Have a look at the output on the right, and copy it for us to see if we have asked you to send it to us.
Taking a look at metadata
The metadata is the underlying information available about a file. This will tell Spotlight, Alfred and any other apps that rely on it that, for example, the file is a PNG image with the title "Alfred Preferences Screenshot", located on the Desktop, with the creation and modification dates.
If your metadata doesn't show a Display Name and File Type at the top, or the kMDItemDisplayName is missing, then the file's metadata is incomplete.
If that's the case, take a look at the Indexing Troubleshooting Guide and follow step 4 to rebuild your Mac's index.
Example metadata for an image file
/Users/alfred/Desktop/Alfred Preferences Screenshot.png
Internal File Metadata
======================
Display Name: Alfred Preferences Screenshot
Alt Names: Alfred Preferences Screenshot.png
File Type: public.png
Comments:
Keywords:
Last Used: 2018-11-28 17:22:51 +0000
Raw mdls File Metadata
======================
_kMDItemOwnerUserID = 501
kMDItemAlternateNames = (
"Alfred Preferences Screenshot.png"
)
kMDItemBitsPerSample = 40
kMDItemColorSpace = "RGB"
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2018-11-08 08:46:14 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2018-11-08 08:46:14 +0000
kMDItemContentType = "public.png"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"public.png",
"public.image",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.content"
)
kMDItemDateAdded = 2018-11-28 17:04:33 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName = "Alfred Preferences Screenshot"
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2018-11-08 08:46:14 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2018-11-08 08:46:14 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 16
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel = 0
kMDItemFSName = "Alfred Preferences Screenshot.png"
kMDItemFSNodeCount = (null)
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501
kMDItemFSSize = 41176
kMDItemFSTypeCode = ""
kMDItemHasAlphaChannel = 1
kMDItemIsScreenCapture = 1
kMDItemKind = "Portable Network Graphics image"
kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2018-11-28 17:22:51 +0000
kMDItemLogicalSize = 41176
kMDItemOrientation = 0
kMDItemPhysicalSize = 49152
kMDItemPixelCount = 209897
kMDItemPixelHeight = 431
kMDItemPixelWidth = 487
kMDItemProfileName = "iMac"
kMDItemResolutionHeightDPI = 0
kMDItemResolutionWidthDPI = 0
kMDItemScreenCaptureGlobalRect = (
1654
)
kMDItemScreenCaptureType = "selection"
kMDItemUseCount = 1
kMDItemUsedDates = (
"2018-11-28 00:00:00 +0000"
)