Finder shows who sent image, not file size (bytes)

Pibble18 wrote:

Thanks, @leroydouglas -

I mentioned in my post that I know I can view size in "list" view, but that doesn't work well for me. I want to see larger previews of images as a I work.

I'm sorry if what I sent was confusing. Let me try again... Pictures are sent to me via email and I download them to a folder (not to photos). The path would be similar to this: .../Documents/Newsletter/2025/July/pics/abc.jpeg

The problem is that when you download pictures people have emailed to you, their name replaces the size. If you click their name, it opens the original email, which isn't helpful.

The screenshots I provided are from Gallery view: Top pic with red arrow: "From: Canine..." is where "size" usually appears. Middle pic: I have to secondary (right) click the arrow to the right of "Canine" and select "remove" to hide this info. Bottom pic: Once that is removed, I can see the file size.

It's a slow and tedious process to do this when working with 25-30 photos, and I was hoping an easier solution for restoring "size" existed.

If that is part of the function of the new Ai introduced in Mail(?) or otherwise — Try turning it off, and compare your results.

You can submit your feedback direct to the Product Team:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html

What system are you running? In the Gallery view in Sequoia I get the size of the image file along with the image and other metadata:

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your MacBook Pro?

My previous examples were not from a text message. I found a message with a photo and dragged it to the Desktop and into a folder. This is what I got:

I go the size but not who sent it to me. 'Tis a puzzlement!

Sequoia Mail.app inserts sender metadata when it saves to disk via ctrl-click > Save Attachment...

You can view that info via mdls command which among other things displays:

mdls image.png
kMDItemDestinationRecipients         = (
    "Name Surname <user@address>"
)
kMDItemOriginSenderDisplayName       = "Name Surname"
kMDItemOriginSenderHandle            = "Name Surname <user@address>"
SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey = "26363"
[snip]

And as you discovered, that info blocks file type and size from displaying in Finder > View > Show Preview mode's right side panel. And as you discovered, you can remove that sender info via right-click > Remove which seems to just reset this tag to:

SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey = ""

If you want to do that en masse to all such (.png) files in a folder, use this brute force command, but be aware that it also removes Finder color tags as well as other metadata (sorry, I don't know how to reset only that SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey as above):

xattr -c *.png

Pibble18 wrote:

I was running Sequoia 15.5 - and just updated to 15.6, but it didn't help... if an image was emailed to me, it still shows the sender and not the size...

Applying updates is never going to help in these situations. The only thing updates are ever going to change is add more eye candy that you were trying to get removed from the previous update.

These updates really only bring bugs and eye candy, yet people keep applying them. That's just the way things are. File size is something that's readily available in many other views in the Finder. You're simply going to have to use those other methods. Eye candy trumps other metadata.

Matti Haveri wrote:

If you want to do that en masse to all such (.png) files in a folder, use this brute force command, but be aware that it also removes Finder color tags as well as other metadata (sorry, I don't know how to reset only that SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey as above):

This command should do the trick:

xattr -d SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey *.png

6x6 wrote:

This command should do the trick:

xattr -d SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey *.png

Sorry but that does not work. Unlike mdls, xattr does not see that flag:

xattr image.png 
com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_u4zr4eskrnieiqfad6wz4asvvm

mdls image.png             
SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey = "26363"
[snip]

So this command fails:

xattr -d SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey *.png
xattr: image.png: No such xattr: SYDocumentRelatedUniqueIdentifierKey

To remove quarantine flags xattr does work, though:

xattr image.png 
com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_u4zr4eskrnieiqfad6wz4asvvm
com.apple.quarantine

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine image.png 

xattr image.png                        
com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_u4zr4eskrnieiqfad6wz4asvvm

Is this photos, downloads or...what is the complete path here???

I never use that gallery view.

In List View you can always have "Size" visible:

Gallery view:

If you can you should upgrade to Sequoia as column view in it does show the size of the file:

Here I was assuming that the Author was receiving the photos via messages as that's about all I do. Get very few in Mail. 🤭