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    Metadata is how spotlights works, so there’s nothing at all concerning about com.apple.quatantine being present. What specific values in specific fields mean has evolved over time so any definitive answer needs to take into account the exact version(s) of macOS on which any specific file has encountered. What makes you think this is “highly abnormal”? If you could document your research to clarify what problem you face perhaps we can help more than my summary answer on what hopefully are relevant details that might be missed by someone that sees these for the first time. Commented May 5 at 11:00
  • Thanks for your comment and explanation. I added some more specific info about the OS version. I am not an expert, that is why I ask here, because what I observe seems unusual for me. Commented May 5 at 12:19
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    Absolutely. Thanks for documenting your research - we have nearly 300 questions on the quarantine aspect of filesystem metadata. Clearly you’re not the only one with questions. Since you’re new here, welcome! And also keep in mind, we the collective people with reputation on the site decided to make questions that boil down to “why did Apple do some thing X” as off-topic. We hope the tour helps all who are new craft questions that address a practical problem they face and not just “how come this happened” Commented May 5 at 12:56
  • You can use Folder Actions or a tool like Hazel to remove extended attributes when files are placed in directories. Commented May 6 at 14:02