Can I remove the “Where from” information from a file?

Yes. In Terminal, xattr -d com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms removes it. Do this before sharing a file if the URL contains anything private.

Why do some files have no “Where from”?

The app that saved them didn’t record it, or the file was created by unzipping, copying from another disk, or exporting from an app. Only the original download carries it.

Mac file guides

How to see where a file was downloaded from on a Mac

By Vishva Variya · Updated October 31, 2026 · 3 min read

Short answer

Select the file in Finder, press ⌘I to open Get Info, and expand More Info: the “Where from” line shows the web address it was downloaded from, and often the page that linked to it. macOS records this for files saved by Safari, Chrome, Mail and most other apps. In Terminal, mdls -name kMDItemWhereFroms <file> prints the same data.

How do I find “Where from” in Get Info?

1Select the downloaded file in Finder.
2Press ⌘I (File › Get Info).
3Expand More Info. “Where from” lists the download URL, and usually the page you were on.

No “Where from” line means the app that saved the file didn’t record one, or the file was copied from another drive or unzipped from an archive.

How do I see a download’s source in Terminal?

mdls -name kMDItemWhereFroms ~/Downloads/file.pdf

It prints the same URLs as Get Info. Useful for checking many files in a script.

Why is “Where from” useful?

Finding every attachment you saved from one email service or chat app.
Spotting where a suspicious file came from before you open it.
Cleaning out downloads from one site you no longer use.
Finding the original page again to download a newer version.

Can I search Finder by download source?

Not easily. Finder shows “Where from” for one file at a time. Spotlight indexes it, so a Smart Folder with the “Where from” attribute (add it via “Other…” in the search criteria) can match a site name, but you need to know which site to type, and you can’t see all your sources side by side.

Every download, grouped by source, in Peekaboo

Peekaboo reads the same “Where from” data macOS already keeps and sorts your downloads into sources: Gmail, Google Drive, ChatGPT, Canva, X, Slack, WhatsApp, GitHub, and any other site with its own badge. Nine hundred downloads become a dozen tidy groups, and the newest ten sit in the menu bar, ready to drag.

1Open Downloaded From.⇧⌘J
2Pick a source to see everything you saved from it.
3Or search it: “pdfs from gmail”.⌘F

Questions

Can I remove the “Where from” information from a file?: Yes. In Terminal, xattr -d com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms <file> removes it. Do this before sharing a file if the URL contains anything private.
Why do some files have no “Where from”?: The app that saved them didn’t record it, or the file was created by unzipping, copying from another disk, or exporting from an app. Only the original download carries it.