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Mac 101: Get info

by Dave Caolo Jul 23rd 2008 at 11:00AM

Switchers and new Mac users may hear veterans refer to "performing a get info." Here's what that means, and exactly what you'll get.

Single-click a file or folder in the Finder and select "Get Info" from the File menu (or hit Command-I on your keyboard) and a new window appears. This is the Info window, and it provides a lot of information.

First, you'll see the file's name, size and most recent modification date. Below that is a field for storing comments or keywords to improve Spotlight search results. For instance, you might add "Colorado," "Map" and "Vacation" to a PDF you'll need for that upcoming trip.

Next you'll see the file's kind, size (again), location on your hard drive, creation date and most recent modification date (again). You can also add a color-coded label to any files you want to group visually.

Two checkboxes follow. Selecting "Stationery Pad" will force that file to open a copy of itself when double-clicked, and selecting "Locked" will prevent future changes (as well as deletion).

The "More Info" display depends on file type. For instance, an image will list data like dimensions, color space, etc. A Pages document will list last time opened or edited.

"Name and Extension" lists a file's name as well as an option to display or hide its extension. You'll also find an option to determine a file's parent application (the one used to open it), a preview of that file and finally sharing and permission information.

If you're new to the Mac, "perform a get info" on a few files to get a feel for that window and the data you'll find there. It's pretty useful.

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Switchers and new Mac users may hear veterans refer to "performing a get info." Here's what that means, and exactly what you'll...
 

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trendbreakr

I just switched to Mac and I'm so used to "Properties" and "Delete" that I usually overlook "Get Info" and "Move to trash" in the right click menu. I keep forgetting that Mac uses really simple phrases to do things.

July 27 2008 at 6:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Balls

Sweet action. I added tags for all my phoenix wright mp3s!

July 23 2008 at 4:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Thomas

It really bugs me that you can't add spotlight comments and labels from the save as box, seems stupid that you save a file, then have to go to the file in finder in order to add these things.

July 23 2008 at 3:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
delight1

i would suggest mentioning command + ctrl + i, which forces the selected items to use the same get info window. it is get for seeing the combined files size of a group of files.

July 23 2008 at 12:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to delight1's comment
P120D1GY

Thanks man! This is actually something that was pissing me off about Mac OS X haha. Thanks for sharing.

http://www.digitalassassin.com

July 23 2008 at 3:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
trik

one note of caution though.... if you multi - select say, 100 files and do a get info, the default in windows gives you one dialog box, mac will open 100 get info's.

That was fun.

July 23 2008 at 12:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to trik's comment
William Hook

Ah, is that what the Spotlight box does. What's the best way to add tags, too?

1) "this" "is" "an" "example" or
2) this, is, an, example, or
3) this is an example

July 23 2008 at 12:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to William Hook's comment
Dan

William, #3 is adequate and I can confirm it works as expected when searching based only on tags.

July 23 2008 at 3:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
William Hook

Cool, thanks. :)

July 23 2008 at 3:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
PeterVk

next up, How to Plug in Your Mac...

Just joking - the 'Change All...' button under 'Open with' is especially useful.

You can change a file's icon in here as well by pasting onto the toppermost preview.

July 23 2008 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
riddlu

Basically, "Get Info" is what "Properties" is on Windows. In various apps too.

July 23 2008 at 11:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

If needing to check the Get Info data of many items holding down The Alt/option key will allow you to choose Show Inspector. This is the same data as Get Info but will change with each item you click or arrow on.

July 23 2008 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Chris's comment
wookie

Alt-Cmd-I does the same without needing to pick from a menu.

July 23 2008 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

If needing to check the Get Info data of many items holding down The Alt/option key will allow you to choose Show Inspector. This is the same data as Get Info but will change with each item you click or arrow on.

July 23 2008 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Chris's comment
Chris

Thanks!

July 23 2008 at 11:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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