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I always used to use Get Info to see the URL where I've downloaded a file. Image, PDF, data. Now I can't see this field anymore in any of my recent downloads. I don't see it for old files or new.

update: based on the comment, I went back and looked more carefully. In the Title and Headline lines I only see the file name and extension repeated in each place.

Did I loose this information when I deleted the indexing? Or is the display just turned off temporarily?

MacBook Air 10.11.6 El Capitan Downloads with Chrome primarily, seems to be same with Safari downloads.

edit: following instructions from @user3439894's comment to drag the file into a command window after typing xattr -1, I can see that the url is still available somewhere, and in at least this case is correct (I've changed some codes to xxxxxx):

david-selfs-MacBook-Air:~ david$ xattr -l /Users/david/Desktop/IgRb0.png
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms:
00000000  62 70 6C 69 73 74 30 30 A2 01 02 5F 10 23 68 74  |bplist00..._.#ht|
00000010  74 70 73 3A 2F 2F 69 2E 73 74 61 63 6B 2E 69 6D  |tps://i.stack.im|
00000020  67 75 72 2E 63 6F 6D 2F 49 67 52 62 30 2E 70 6E  |gur.com/IgRb0.pn|
00000030  67 5F 10 23 68 74 74 70 73 3A 2F 2F 69 2E 73 74  |g_.#https://i.st|
00000040  61 63 6B 2E 69 6D 67 75 72 2E 63 6F 6D 2F 49 67  |ack.imgur.com/Ig|
00000050  52 62 30 2E 70 6E 67 08 0B 31 00 00 00 00 00 00  |Rb0.png..1......|
00000060  01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 57                    |.........W|
0000007a
com.apple.quarantine: 0001;xxxxxxx;Google Chrome;xxxxxx—xxxxxx-…

enter image description here

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  • When you do the Get Info (⌘+I) and the window appears, do you still see the More Info field?
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 22:28
  • @Monomeeth Yep, usually it contains Title, Headline and Last opened fields, and the first two now contain only a repeat of the file name, with no local path or original url information. Something like name.pdf, name.dat, or name.png. I've added a screenshot as an example, but spot checks show the same each time, except occasionally one of the subfields is missing (e.g. Headline). Also, I use the Chrome browser, a quick check in Safari shows same behavior.
    – uhoh
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 0:28
  • In Terminal, type the following command, followed by a space, xattr -l and then drag & drop the image onto the Terminal window. This populates the fully qualified pathname of the file. Now press enter. What output do you see? Do you see a com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms: output?
    – user3439894
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 1:06
  • @user3439894 It seems the correct url is displayed there (see update). I wonder if this means that I can find a way to get "show info" to start showing the links again?
    – uhoh
    Commented May 1, 2017 at 1:14
  • 1
    I'd start by rebuilding the Spotlight index on your Mac.
    – user3439894
    Commented May 1, 2017 at 1:44

1 Answer 1

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I'd start by rebuilding the Spotlight Index on your Mac.

  1. Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
  2. Click the Privacy tab.

  3. Drag the folder or disk that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the Add (+) button and select the folder or disk to add.

    To add an item to the Privacy tab, you must have ownership permissions for that item. To learn about permissions, choose Help from the Finder menu bar, then search for “permissions.”

  4. From the same list of locations, select the folder or disk that you just added. Then click the Remove (–) button to remove it from the list.

  5. Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the folder or disk.

From: How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac

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  • I have a hunch this might work. I'll report back when I get an opportunity in a few days to try it. Thanks for your help!
    – uhoh
    Commented May 1, 2017 at 5:55

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