Comments for Mac files?

[DanL]

I'm interested in associating text comments with a Mac file. This particularly useful for annotating pictures, where the annotation is to big to fit in the filename. Now, I'm aware of "Comments" in Get Info, but those comments are buried in a whole slew of Get Info stuff. I wish there were a way, for jpgs in particular, to show those "Comments" by themselves. Would be nice if you could just select a file and have a pull down to "Show Comments". Not obvious that Preview offers a comments option, unless you actually want to put writing on your pictures! I think there are apps that allow you to add metadata to files, but those aren't Apple products, and who knows what their lifetime might be.

 

[DanL]

Well, no ideas it seems. Turns out that the "Comments" for a file in GetInfo are stored in the .DS_Store file in the folder that it is in. This is a binary file, and next to useless, as such. There are third party applications that can display and edit these comments directly (e.g. xattred) but they don't really make it easier to see them than just digging into GetInfo. There is a good writeup on all this at https://eclecticlight.co/2020/11/06/finder-comments-worth-avoiding/. There are also services that allow you to add to GetInfo comments without using GetInfo, but don't appear to actually display what you've got there. These comments are, by the way, Spotlight searchable, which is nice.