Stubborn XAttr Descriptions and Keywords

[wywh]

I spotted some old pre-2021 .jpg images with stubborn Descriptions and Keywords that macOS 13 Ventura Finder displays even when they should have been deleted.

Question: What is org.openmetainfo? My newer images do not seem to have those XAttrOrgOpenmetainfo* tags. Maybe some older app or device used those tags and Ventura does not properly process them?

https://eclecticlight.co/2018/02/07/xattr-org-openmetainfo-and-org-openmetainfo-time-families-third-party-metadata/

Even after these commands macOS 13 Ventura Finder > Get Info still displays them (Photos.app does not):

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exiftool -overwrite_original -IPTC:Caption-Abstract= -XMP-dc:Description= -IPTC:Keywords= -XMP-dc:Subject= a.jpg

exiftool -overwrite_original -All= a.jpg
The old ghost Descriptions and Keywords still seem to hide in XAttr where Finder and Spotlight grab them even after the "real" tags are deleted:

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exiftool -a -G1 -s -api RequestAll=2 a.jpg
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemUserTags             : Red.6
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemCreator              : GraphicConverter
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemDescription          : (Binary data 872 bytes, use -b option to extract) [sometimes old Description as clear text]
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemDownloadedDate       : 2019:11:05 18:09:56+02:00
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemKeywords             : [old keywords that should have been deleted]
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemStarRating           : 5
[MacOS]         XAttrMDItemWhereFroms           : [sometimes URL if the image was downloaded]
I filtered my recent images and dozens had these XAttrOrgOpenmetainfo* tags that I no longer see in my 2021 or newer images. But only a few of those had those stubborn tags so the issue seems not to be widespread.

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[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoTimeKMDItemCreator: 2019:03:24 18:23:17+02:00
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoTimeKMDItemDescription: 2019:03:24 18:23:17+02:00
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoTimeKMDItemKeywords: 2019:03:24 18:23:17+02:00
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoTimeKMDItemStarRating: 2019:03:24 18:23:17+02:00
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoKMDItemCreator: GraphicConverter
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoKMDItemDescription: [some Description I have entered]
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoKMDItemKeywords: [some Keyword I have entered]
[MacOS]         XAttrOrgOpenmetainfoKMDItemStarRating: 2
Those bogus XAttr tags do no harm if there are "real" IPTC/XMP Description or Keyword tags that override them. If not, they can can be removed with GraphicConverter's (Dates etc menu) > Extended Attributes (XAttr) > Remove All. Or with 'exiftool -All= .'

- Matti

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Matti,

Interesting.  You should be able to remove these with the MacOS xattr utility, but you might have to do them one at a time.

- Phil