System: macOS 11.6.1, MBP 2019 16in I am having a persistent issue with certain tags. I have a tag, call it "post", that I use as a toggle. I set it on files that I need to find to upload to a certain cloud site. I set it on files that I need to attach to an email. I set it on files that I need to deliver in a presentation. After I have done the action with the files, I unset the tag. The tag resides in my sidebar as a favorite. It is colored yellow. My problem is, the tag sometimes refuses to be unset. It refuses to be unset in a rather disturbing manner. It refuses to be unset to disappear from the favorite list *but it shows no tag in the Finder list view*. Here is a view with the ghost-tagged file and a valid-tagged file. I have tried these four options: * I have toggled the post tag on and off to the file using the favorites view. While I do this, I see the xattr com.apple.FinderInfo and com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags toggle on and off (see further below). * I added the folder containing the file to the Spotlight "do not search" preference pane (Privacy) to delete the Spotlight index. The ghost-tagged file disappeared from the favorites list. I rebooted. I removed the folder from the Spotlight do not index list. The ghost-tagged file reappears. * I used various approaches with xattr to view the meta attributes and remove them with -dr. I found that I could remove all xattr characteristics. The ghost-tagged file seemed to drop from the favorites. But when I clicked to a different favorite tag and returned to the post tag ... there was the ghost-tagged file again *and it had absolutely no meta-xattr settings*. * I have deleted the post tag entirely using the Finder preferences. I then created a new tag with the same name. The ghost-tagged file reappears. * I used OnyX to remove the Spotlight index file. A slight wrinkle perhaps. I have my internal hard drive partitioned into three volumes. Some of the above disaster happens with files that are on other volumes. Another slight wrinkle perhaps. I am using DevonThink to index portions of the external volume that contain the files. I looked at the DT database for the tag. It shows no file is contained in that tag. What puzzles me primarily is what else I should be doing to purge the ghost tag definitively. Should I boot into safe mode to purge something? Should I rinse the file through some secondary app to remove the tag (the files are primarily PDFs, and I have rw access to them as seen in the Finder info box)? My reading suggests this may a problem without an answer, or the answer is fairly deeply hidden. Any thoughts would be appreciated, even if only to confirm that this mystery is just one of those hidden gems in using macOS.

I'm having an issue with Finder Tags and SMB share? I can tag a file with a colour. But when I go view in the tags it does not show for any SMB shared files? I have tried everything. Finder is creating a DS file. I have opened up the permissions etc. Just refuses to show the coloured tags? Anyone know why? If this does work for you please could you share you config.

When handling files with Finder tags I frequently get an error alert, "The operation can't be completed. An unexpected error occurred (error code -8076)." This usually happens when I have multiple tagged items selected. Sometimes it happens a few times in quick succession, with the alert popping up again as soon as it is dismissed... & again, & again, up to 5 times. Can anyone tell me of a way to stop this happening? (apart from not using Finder tags)

I used this shortcut (Cntrl 1-7) on another Mac laptop once, but for some reason, it doesn't work on mine (2015 Macbook Air), and I can't figure out how to fix it. I am a photographer and want to use it to put the color tags on pictures while I'm viewing a lot at a time.

I’m experiencing an issue with tags in Finder on macOS Sonoma 14.5. My main account has this issue. Creating a new account, the tags work fine. The tags are now invisible (not displayed) when I right-click. I tried using Safe Mode, but the problem persisted. Initially, I thought this issue might only affect OneDrive files, but it turned out to be present with every file and folder. Interestingly, I can still tag files and folders using the Finder menu, but not through right-clicking. ### What I tried: - Reinstalling macOS - Erasing and recovering data using Time Machine. Is it possible to find the problem here and fix the problem user account?

I only today started tagging files in MacOS Finder. I was pleased to confirm that I could locate those files in Finder by searching for the tag. My iPhone and my MacBook are both logged into iCloud using the same account. However, even after restarting my phone, and forcing a Photos sync, I am unable to locate those files in my phone by searching for the tag. Are there other steps I need to take before the file tags are synced with iPhone?

Using either Shortcuts (or Automator if needed), I'm trying to add **multiple** tags (labels) to a file. It's simple to add a single tag, but that tag gets overwritten if you try adding another. If you do this, you end up with only a blue tag; I would like blue and green together.

# Final goal - Create a copy of all files one external hard drive to another external hard drive, both formatted as HFS+. - Preserve the *folder* creation date. - Preserve finder colour label. - During the copy I want to see some kind of progress indicator. ## Using cp If I copy using

cp -a /origin/folder/ /destination/folder

this only preserves *file* creation dates, not *folder* creation dates. ## Using rsync 3.1.3 If I copy using rsync 3.1.3 (installed via Homebrew)

rsync --recursive --info=progress2 -hhh --xattrs --times --crtimes /origin/folder /destination/folder

this preserves folder creation dates, colour labels, but the output is riddled with below errors (I can't hide them with the --quiet option), so I cannot keep track of the progress

rsync: get_xattr_names: llistxattr("/origin/folder/filename",1024) failed: Operation not permitted (1)

I am trying to delete a bunch of unneeded tags. I go to Finders Prefs to select the tags I then select delete and am given the warning I select Delete Tags. Some of them are removed, but others hang around

I like the idea of Finder tags and I want to use them. I tried tagging files in Finder. Then I clicked the tag in the sidebar and... it just shows a list of all my tags... instead of the documented behavior listed on Apple's website as well as user forums. Please pardon my impudence for daring to question the absolute wisdom of the Mac user interface and its documentation, but is there anything outside of the listed instructions that I need to do in order to get tagged files to show up? I just wanna use tags.

Is there a workaround? How can I fix this? These files are on SMB shares to Windows servers with a NTFS file system. Is there a better way to connect to windows shares? Please guide as I am new to the Mac world. Thanks.

mdls does not return anything when I run it on a mounted (originally encrypted) sparse bundle:

❯ ll ./test
.rw-r--r--@ 0 evar 14 Sep 18:34 ./test

❯ mdls ./test                                                                                                               
./test: could not find ./test.

Trying mdutil to turn on the indexing:

❯ sudo mdutil -d /Volumes/sth                                                                                               
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes/sth:
Error: unable to perform operation.  (-400)
	Error: unknown indexing state.

PS: I use mdls to extract the tags a file has. I'm open to using any other solution for doing so.

I am a relatively new Mac user, recently bought a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.9.1. I see that there are tagging capabilities within the file system. I'm concerned about portability. If I get a new computer in a few years, how would I transfer my tags to the new system? What if I want to move my files to a Windows or Linux machine? Can I see the tags on these operating systems? I just don't want to put some effort into the built-in tagging system only to have my tags useless at some point down the road.

**Goal**: In macOS Monterey, using the Finder icon view, I want to show three things *for each file*, listed below. I want them close together visually. I only can show the first two, not the third: * ☑︎ icon * ☑︎ filename * ☐ its tags **Workaround**: the only way I know to see tags is by having the preview sidebar open. I don’t like this because I can’t quickly see all the tags for the files. **Questions**: * Is it currently possible (or not) to show the tags like I want? * Is there some other way to accomplish a similar goal: seeing all tags for each file in a Finder view? * Do you highly recommend another program to accomplish this? So far, I've had no luck yet finding this on the splinternets.

I just recovered data from a thumbdrive using Disk Drill following https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/440819/what-to-do-when-mounting-apfs-from-thumbdrive-suddenly-shows-error-and-disk-util But now all the Finder tags on all the recovered files are missing. I tagged those files in the thumbdrive using my Macbook A1990 on a macOS 10.13.6. Does the OS store the tags separately (eg. in an SQLite database) so I can recover those tags? If yes, where may I find them? (If no, is there any other way to recover those tags, with Disk Drill, or otherwise?)

I recently upgraded a MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) I use at work from macOS Catalina 10.15.7 to Monterey 12.3.1. I have "Increase contrast" enabled (under *System Preferences > Accessibility > Display*) as I prefer to have obvious edges around UI elements ("Show toolbar button shapes" adds faint edges to buttons, but not other UI elements). After upgrading to Monterey, I noticed that the colors of Finder tags and the close/minimize/zoom buttons in each window's title bar have changed: when using the "Light" appearance (selected in *System Preferences > General*), they're much darker than they were on Catalina (e.g., the yellow Finder tag is brown). When using the "Dark" appearance, the window buttons look fine, but some of the Finder tags are too bright (e.g., the purple tag is light gray). In both cases, the issue with the colors of the Finder tags is less pronounced when a Finder window isn't selected. If "Increase contrast" is turned off, the colors return to normal; for example, when using the "Light" appearance with "Increase contrast" disabled, the colors are "normal": Overall, the colors are (ironically) harder to differentiate when "Increase contrast" is turned on; this wasn't an issue in Catalina. I wasn't able to find much documentation of this issue online; it appears to have been reported [here](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253509565) for Monterey and indirectly in [this forum thread discussing UI changes made in Big Sur](https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/big-surs-white-on-white-ui-makes-increase-contrast-option-attractive.2266989/) . Is this a known bug with Big Sur/Monterey? Is there a workaround to make the colors more distinct/"normal" when "Increase contrast" is enabled? *Note: I don't actually use tags, but given the current lack of documentation regarding this problem (and the fact that it affects accessibility) I thought it was worth posting this question as there are undoubtedly users who use do use tags and who also prefer (or require) the improved legibility of increased-contrast mode.*

There is an extremely annoying bug that happens when I create a tag. I am tagging a bunch of .pdf files with author names. I enter the name in the tag box, press enter, then click on the next file that I want to tag. Then the error box appears telling me that the operation couldn't be done. But the weird thing is that the tag has been created when I go back to check. Furthermore, the error does not occur if I first click on the file again before clicking on the next file that I want to tag. I have the latest macOS.

What commands do we have for finding tagged files/folders using find on the command line? I have done a search and looked on this site and found nothing.

Is it possible to create some script to show all the finder-tagged items in terminal/shell? I'd like to create something like this: ls-tag "Music" to display all the items of Music tag

In Preview.app for macOS 10.13.3, how do I remove a tag from the drop-down menu and add additional colour tag, other than the few shown? I made a tag which I want to remove from the drop-down menu. Also, I wonder if it is possible to add custom colors to tags?