Get Info showing different information?!

[MacBH928]

I have this set of pictures transferred from an older computer. If I click "Get Info" on one of them it shows different "More Information" than when I move the same file to another place in the computer(In this case to Desktop).

Whats going on here?! This image is of the same file moved to different directory on the same computer showing different "More Info" .
and whats the difference between "Title" and "Headline" ?

 

[casperes1996]

I have this set of pictures transferred from an older computer. If I click "Get Info" on one of them it shows different "More Information" than when I move the same file to another place in the computer(In this case to Desktop).

Whats going on here?! This image is of the same file moved to different directory on the same computer showing different "More Info" .
and whats the difference between "Title" and "Headline" ?

Where on your computer is the left photo? There's probably a hidden metadata file stored with the photo that instead of being transferred with the photo as normal, is just linked to it.

 

[MacBH928]

Where on your computer is the left photo? There's probably a hidden metadata file stored with the photo that instead of being transferred with the photo as normal, is just linked to it.

its stored in in a folder inside "documents" inside my home directory. I pulled that one image out (alt+drag) to make exact copy to the desktop. I did a get info on it and it showed different information.

How can I fix this?
btw, the file with more detail information is the exact copy and the one with lesser information is the original

 

[chown33]

My first guess is that the extra info is actually present in the original file, stored as EXIF metadata in the JPEG format.

My next guess is that the "Get Info" window shows the extra info by asking Spotlight for the metadata. If Spotlight hasn't extracted any EXIF metadata, then no extra info will be shown.

My final guess is that for some unknown reason, Spotlight hasn't extracted the EXIF metadata from the file in its original location, and that copying the file does trigger Spotlight to extract the EXIF metadata and make it available in the Spotlight metadata store, at which point "Get Info" can show it.

You can open the JPEG file in Preview.app and show any EXIF data there (Show Info). Maybe open in QuickTime Player.app and look there.

There is also a Terminal command that can list the Spotlight metadata for a file (mdls). You can then list the Spotlight data for both files and see if they differ.

There are other ways of inspecting or extracting EXIF metadata, but AFAIK they require additional apps or command-line tools.

 

[casperes1996]

How can I fix this?

See the message below your post by chown33. If the metadata differs, look to alternative ways of copying the file, as clearly there's a bug in the normal copying method. If the metadata is the same, rebuild the Spotlight index – Easiest way I can think of is using OnyX (titanium.free.fr)

 

[chown33]

Dang, I just realized I didn't post any fixes.

First, confirm there is EXIF metadata in the original image file. Use Preview.app or maybe QuickTime Player. If the app shows the metadata, then the next step is to trick Spotlight (technically, its mdworker process) into extracting the EXIF metadata into the Spotlight system-wide metadata store.

Second is how to trick Spotlight into reindexing. Here's several possibilities, roughly in order of complexity or time.

Simply moving the original image file into a folder may trigger Spotlight. Try this by making a new folder, moving one original image there, then check what shows up under its "Get Info". If it shows the extended info, then move the file back to its original folder. Repeat for as many image files as desired.

It might work to tell Spotlight to disable indexing, then re-enable it. To do that, drag the Documents folder (or the subfolder with images) into the Spotlight : Privacy sub-pane of System Preferences. This will effectively remove all metadata from the folder contents, and prevent Spotlight from indexing it. Then you delete that folder from Spotlight : Privacy, which re-enables Spotlight indexing. Give it a few minutes, then check with "Get Info" whether the EXIF metadata has been extracted.

If simply moving an original image file or Spotlight Privacy doesn't trigger Spotlight, maybe compressing and decompressing the files will. See here:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25411?locale=en_US

Basically, you compress the originals, move the originals to the Trash (don't empty Trash yet), then decompress the ZIP file. At that point you should have all the files and folders you started with, in their original location. Use "Get Info" on the newly decompressed files to check for the extended info. Whether this works or not, you can empty Trash now, because the decompressed files should be identical to the originals. Best case they show extended info in "Get Info", and worst case they don't. Either way, the files themselves should be identical.

Also, remember that copying from one folder to another caused the "More info" to show up (the Desktop is a folder), so you can try that using a new folder rather than dragging directly to the Desktop.

If compress/decompress doesn't work, and you have an external USB stick or drive, copy to that, delete originals, then copy back.

If you don't have a USB stick or drive, you can create a disk image file using Disk Utility, copy files to it, delete originals, then copy back.

I can probably come up with more things to try, but they involve command-lines in Terminal, so try all the above first. If none work, ask again.

 

[casperes1996]

I can probably come up with more things to try, but they involve command-lines in Terminal, so try all the above first. If none work, ask again.

You're good, man. Very thorough in your explanations. I like it. If none of your suggestions work however, and the OP would like to avoid the Terminal, I can still recommend the OnyX approach of telling Spotlight to completely rebuild its index. It'll take a while, and in theory your suggestion about the Spotlight Privacy thing should do the same just only to the appropriate files and not the entire drive, but you know, just in case.
Anyhow, thumbs up for nice posts.

 

[MacBH928]

My first guess is that the extra info is actually present in the original file, stored as EXIF metadata in the JPEG format.

My next guess is that the "Get Info" window shows the extra info by asking Spotlight for the metadata. If Spotlight hasn't extracted any EXIF metadata, then no extra info will be shown.

My final guess is that for some unknown reason, Spotlight hasn't extracted the EXIF metadata from the file in its original location, and that copying the file does trigger Spotlight to extract the EXIF metadata and make it available in the Spotlight metadata store, at which point "Get Info" can show it.

You can open the JPEG file in Preview.app and show any EXIF data there (Show Info). Maybe open in QuickTime Player.app and look there.

There is also a Terminal command that can list the Spotlight metadata for a file (mdls). You can then list the Spotlight data for both files and see if they differ.

There are other ways of inspecting or extracting EXIF metadata, but AFAIK they require additional apps or command-line tools.

You know you are right. The original folder I put it under "privacy" in Spotlight but I never imagined that will limit the information available on the file. I thought it just not going to show it up in search. I removed it and re-indexed the whole HD. Looks like it worked.

Hey man, you look like you are very knowledgeable about OS X, can you help me with this one other thing. When I click "get info" on an image, next to the file name I get a generic JPEG icon. How can I get a preview of the image itself, it happens with some files and others not. Look at image for clarification: http://imgur.com/a/ecsMm

 

[chown33]

... When I click "get info" on an image, next to the file name I get a generic JPEG icon. How can I get a preview of the image itself, it happens with some files and others not. Look at image for clarification: http://imgur.com/a/ecsMm

I don't know.

You could try starting a new thread in the Digital Photography forum, and ask there. The folks there have lots of experience in working with images.

 

[MacBH928]

You're good, man. Very thorough in your explanations. I like it. If none of your suggestions work however, and the OP would like to avoid the Terminal, I can still recommend the OnyX approach of telling Spotlight to completely rebuild its index. It'll take a while, and in theory your suggestion about the Spotlight Privacy thing should do the same just only to the appropriate files and not the entire drive, but you know, just in case.
Anyhow, thumbs up for nice posts.

I don't know.

You could try starting a new thread in the Digital Photography forum, and ask there. The folks there have lots of experience in working with images.

Hey thanks guys for helping me out. I hope in the future some sort of good karma happens to you and you get help when you most need it. Those files are more important than you think.

 

[casperes1996]

Hey thanks guys for helping me out. I hope in the future some sort of good karma happens to you and you get help when you most need it. Those files are more important than you think.

Hehe, sure, man. Regardless of importance, it's nice when things work like they're supposed to - it's just extra annoying if it's important... And bloody hell I've cursed over Final Cut Pro 10.3, haha. Anyhow, feel free to ask if there's ever anything again in future.