Access the File Inspector on Mac with Command-Option-i

Did you know the Mac has a little file inspector tool that can be used in the Finder for quickly getting information about files, folders, and anything else selected in a Finder window?

The File Inspector is basically a dynamic “Get Info” window on the Mac, as it adjusts depending on what you select in the Finder of Mac OS. This is very useful for so many reasons, but particularly if you frequently use the “Get Info” command in Mac Finder to reveal details about finder items.

How to Access the File Inspector in Mac Finder

To access the File Inspector in the Mac Finder, with it’s Quick Look style version of the Get Info command, simply start by highlighting any file or folder in the Finder.

Then, with a file or folder selected in Finder, hitting the Command+Option+i keys in combination to reveal the Get Info File Inspector tool.

The initial data is the same as what you see in the standard Get Info command (which has the Command + i keystroke in Finder), but the exciting part is what happens when you click on another Finder item: the File Inspector changes the data shown to represent the newly selected file or folder, without having to open a new Get Info window!

This is very useful with navigating the Finder with a mouse, keyboard, trackpad, or however else, because it allows you to select other files and folders and pull up data about them upon click / selection rather than opening another Get Info window for each individual file. If you’re trying to check out information about many different files or folders, you’ll quickly see why this is so helpful.

This tool behaves very much like Quick Look previews in Mac OS, and the window will close if you select the desktop rather than an icon, file, or folder, or it loses the focus.

Note: another way to access the File Inspector is by holding down the Option key and right-clicking on an icon, in place of “Get Info” will be “Show Inspector.”

Very useful, try it out! This great feature exists in just about every version of Mac OS X to ever exist, so try it out yourself, see how great it is, make it part of your workflow, and enjoy the utility of such a delightful feature of the Mac Finder.