Why is not possible to add columns for EXIF data in Finder. This would be very useful. It is often useful to filter by the time the picture was taken. The file creation date can end up being altered by moving and manipulating the file. Sorting by camera is another use for this feature. I am also a Windows user and know this is possible in Windows Explorer.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.6
At the moment, I am on Monterey 12.7.4 and one must have a Finder window open (e.g. Desktop) and an image selected. Then the Finder View menu > Show Preview menu item is active and the Show Preview Options is not. Select Show Preview, and then the Show Preview Options menu item is active.
This Show Preview feature is only available in a Finder Window's icon, list, or column modes.
We cannot answer why questions or speculate about something not being implemented as we are fellow users and the Apple product teams do not participate here.
Use the tools that work for you, even if that means Windoze. The Finder View menu has a Show Preview menu item and once you have an image selected, there is also a Show Preview Options that gives you selectable access (but not columnar) of EXIF data in the Finder window. It looks like this:
Since macOS is a UNIX operating system, any file moved onto it is treated like a new file and consequently, Finder requests the operating system to stamp it with the current system date for the creation date. The exception is when one uses Apple's Image Capture to download files from a compatible phone or camera. Image Capture will then use the EXIF DateTimeOriginal for the creation date.
You certainly can send direct feedback to the macOS product team requesting a feature, but they probably won't respond to you due to the volume of requests. Probably not too motivated to make macOS emulate Windows Explorer features either…
Thanks. This is quite useful. The 2-step process was not obvious (at least not to me), especially with the Show Preview and the Show Preview Options not being adjacent in the list. Or maybe I was just too sleepy ...
I also discovered that this works for TIFF & JPEG images but not PNGs. And at first I was using a PNG image to try this, undoubtedly the reason it wasn't working for me.
Show Preview works for PNGs here. They have minimal internal data beyond what you see here:
Do you have a recent version of Swift installed? I have a SwiftUI solution (that screen capture above) that can take a tilde path image from the command line or pop a file chooser to select RAW or regular images. It then displays available EXIF data in a scrollable window. This is not a standalone app that can reside in the Dock, it must be run from the command line.
@VikingOSX wrote"
The Finder View menu has a Show Preview menu item and once you have an image selected, there is also a Show Preview Options
Help me out here. I see no Finder Show Preview menu item at all. I do have View > Show Preview Options but it is greyed out. Regardless if I nothing is selected, 1 image selected or multiple images selected, it's always greyed out. I'm on Monterey 12.7.2. Is this a Ventura or Sonoma feature?
Thanks for the offer ... but I'll pass. Most of my images are TIFF, JPEG or NEF. Photoshop & CaptureOne provide sufficient views of EXIF/IPTC data for my needs. I don't have many PNG images and most of them are just screenshots, so their limited EXIF data isn't of much interest. It was just interesting to find out you can view EXIF data while scrolling through images in the Finder.
Yes, I do use that as a quick way to check basic EXIF. Sometimes I even use the Adjust Color control to do some quick basic adjustments for readability of old scanned or microfilmed documents that I find during my family research.
Thanks for the reminder.
Don't rule out Preview's Inspector offering EXIF and IPTC data views too.
EXIF Data in MAC Finder
