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When you Delete a tag using finder, what happens to the files that had the tags?

I never used tags in my macbook. I tried setting a tag. It automatically created purple tags for few files. Since I do not want to use tags, I looked up apple community support and found how to delete a tag "Edit tags

In the Finder  on your Mac, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Tags.867 623

Do any of the following:

Delete a tag: Select the tag, then click the Remove button  ."

I followed the instruction, before doing that I did not note the file names that were tagged.

Once I deleted the tag everything disappeared. When you delete a tag does it delete the file? But my Trash does not contain anything. It is empty. I want to know when one delete a tag what happens to the files that were tagged before deleting the tag.




MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 17, 2020 3:05 PM

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Posted on Mar 17, 2020 6:50 PM

It only removes the tag from the file. Tags are metadata assigned to the file. When you delete a tag, it should remove the metadata from the file.


The Tags view in Finder is a search, so when you deleted the Tag, there was nothing to match, so the previously found documents could not be found and vanished from the view. The files are still wherever they were stored.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 17, 2020 6:50 PM in response to lalipatti

It only removes the tag from the file. Tags are metadata assigned to the file. When you delete a tag, it should remove the metadata from the file.


The Tags view in Finder is a search, so when you deleted the Tag, there was nothing to match, so the previously found documents could not be found and vanished from the view. The files are still wherever they were stored.

Mar 17, 2020 4:21 PM in response to lalipatti

If you control/right click on a tagged file, the secondary menu will show a menu item Tags… . Select it. This will open a Tags panel that shows the tag or tags already set on the file entered as rectangular lozenges. Place your cursor behind the last tag entry, and backspace until they are gone. Press Return to finalize this process, and the Tags panel disappears, just as the tags do from the selected file(s).


Nothing happens to the previously tagged file(s).

When you Delete a tag using finder, what happens to the files that had the tags?

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