A friendly PySide6 desktop utility for macOS to view and sweep away the "Where From" metadata (com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms) from your files—plus any other xattr you want to forget! Because your files don’t need to remember where they came from.
Dedicated to my wife.
- Browse any folder (starts in your Downloads, because that’s where the action is)
- Instantly see the "Where From" attribute for each file
- Remove the "Where From" attribute from one file, or all files, with a single click
- View and clear other extended attributes (xattr) for each file, with a handy popup for fine-grained control (except protected ones—macOS keeps some secrets!)
- Option to show/hide hidden files (your secrets are safe)
- Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/tzinmein/WhereFromBegone.git cd WhereFromBegone - (Recommended) Create and activate a virtual environment:
python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate - Install dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
Run the app with:
python3 wherefrombegone.py- Click Change Directory to snoop around your folders.
- Hit Clear next to a file to wipe its "Where From" memory.
- Feeling bold? Use Clear All to sweep the whole folder.
- Click Manage Other Xattr to see and clear other extended attributes for a file—individually or all at once (except protected ones; even we have to respect macOS magic).
- Toggle Show Hidden Files if you want to see everything (we won’t judge).
- "Where From" Attribute removal is only relevant on macOS.
- No files are modified except for the removal of the "Where From" attribute when requested.
MIT License — see LICENSE
Ho Tzin Mein, 2025.