What is difference between Inspector vs Get Info in Finder?

[g-boac]

Hello! I'm a relatively new Mac owner and absolutely love them. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between selecting a file in finder and pressing command-I ("get info") vs option-command-I ("inspector")? At first glance, there appears to be absolutely no difference except for the fact that the Inspector "close window" button is much, much smaller, while the "get info" window controls are more conventionally-sized (same size as Safari or Finder window buttons).

Is there ANY other difference between the Get Info and Inspector? Anything that I can do in one and not the other?

thanks!
Mark

 

[Funk-Dobie]

As far as I know there is no functional difference between the two. I did notice that the inspector window pops up faster than the Get Info window. When I do a Command+I(Get Info) it seems like the system uses an expose effect to show the window. When I do Option+Apple+I the window immediately pops up.

 

[sephstrife]

The Get Info window is a plain old static window. It shows the file information for whatever was selected when you opened it, and that's that.

The Inspector window is a floating window, stays above the Finder window till you close it, and the information inside is dynamic. If you select a different file while the Inspector window is open, the contents of the Inspector window change to show information for the newly selected file.

One last tip: selecting multiple items and using Get Info opens up an individual Get Info window for each file. If you want a single Get Info window for all those files, Command+Ctrl+I opens up a Get Summary Info window. Or you can just open up an Inspector window, which always gives all the information in a single window, and changes every time you make a different selection.

 

[Funk-Dobie]

The Get Info window is a plain old static window. It shows the file information for whatever was selected when you opened it, and that's that.

The Inspector window is a floating window, stays above the Finder window till you close it, and the information inside is dynamic. If you select a different file while the Inspector window is open, the contents of the Inspector window change to show information for the newly selected file.

One last tip: selecting multiple items and using Get Info opens up an individual Get Info window for each file. If you want a single Get Info window for all those files, Command+Ctrl+I opens up a Get Summary Info window. Or you can just open up an Inspector window, which always gives all the information in a single window, and changes every time you make a different selection.

Very nice, thanks for the explanation on that. Thanks for the Get Summary Info shortcut also. Very helpful.

 

[g-boac]

Seph - VERY cool, both tips!!! thank you!!!

It simply amazes me, all the stuff you can do with OS X. And you learn more each day.

thanks!
Mark

 

[font9a]

I suspect the Get Info is written in Cocoa and Show Inspector is written in Carbon. I base this on the fact that Get Info conforms more closely to the modern HIG (rounded window corners, bigger stoplights, <<both support scrolling>>, uses Core Animation, etc.) I personally prefer the behavior of Show Inspector because it's faster and dynamic w/r/t selections as explained above.