Mac 101: Find where a file came from

If you frequently download files via iChat file transfer or Safari, then you may want to know where the files came from later on. This information can be found using a simple Get Info command in the Finder.

Right-click on the questionable file and select "Get Info" (you can also click once on the file and press command + I). Once you are in the Get Info window, click the "More Info" disclosure triangle. Look in the "Where from" field to identify your file's origin.

If you downloaded the file from an iChat file transfer, you will see the person's name, handle, and date/time of download. If you downloaded the file using Safari, you might see the URL for the site you downloaded the file from. Please note that this will not work for all files, and your experience may vary if you are using non-Apple browsers or chat tools.

Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.

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If you frequently download files via iChat file transfer or Safari, then you may want to know where the files came from later on. This...

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george smith

Is there any way to disable this feature in Safari? It actually really annoys me, and I would love it if there is a way I could disable it.
Thanks.

January 06 2009 at 7:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

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November 17 2008 at 3:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Conor Sexton

Yes this tip appeared on the Apple Quick Tips podcast before you posted it.

October 13 2008 at 6:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jose

IE on Sys 9 used to do this and I've always missed this feature. I had no idea that it was a browser specific thing! Thanks for the tip!

October 13 2008 at 1:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Laiven

This was on the Apple Quick tips podcast too...

October 13 2008 at 12:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Neil T.

Camino supports this as well, but Firefox does not. There is a request to add support for this in Firefox, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=337051

October 13 2008 at 11:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Fenton Jones

The trouble is, the info is not enterable/copyable. I believe the data comes from metadata. I use the following AppleScript, which I save as a droplet application on the desktop to put the URLs on the clipboard. Copy/paste the below into Script Editor, save as application. If the long line gets broken up, it's 1 line.

on open (file_drop)
set file_alias to item 1 of file_drop
set pos_file to quoted form of POSIX path of file_alias

set URLs to do shell script "/usr/bin/mdls -name kMDItemWhereFroms " & pos_file & " | egrep 'http:'"
-- download URL, could be more than 1 line
set the clipboard to URLs
display dialog "The URLs are on the clipboard" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end open

October 13 2008 at 10:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

john russell

I find it slightly humorous that "where from:" is bad English. Although, most people should still understand it just fine.

What makes these certain apps so special that they add in this tag of information? Does Apple have to code it into each app?

October 13 2008 at 9:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tice

I have DownloadComment installed but would like to know if this info shows up without it. Does it work only in iChat, Safari and Mail?

October 13 2008 at 8:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James Conroy-Finn

This has been around for a long time. You'll find similar functionality in Address Book when you download a vCard from a website.

October 13 2008 at 7:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply