TypeCreator is a very simple compiled AppleScript that does one thing. It returns the Type and Creator codes of the selected file.

Why bother to create this tiny utility? Because there are no such utilities (that I could find) that run in Catalina. They’re all 32 bit apps for Mojave or earlier, and many are Classic apps that will only work in OS 9 or older. It can be very important to know this information. I often see users on Apple’s forum who have old files they can’t open because they have no file extension, and the OS doesn’t recognize them. If you can at least see the Type and Creator codes, you can then look up what app created it, giving you a much better chance of opening it by giving that file the correct extension. The app runs in a loop until you select Cancel. Select a file to see its Type and Creator codes. If it has none (or only one or the other), it will be listed as “missing value”. Just keep selecting as many files as you want to check and cancel out when you’re done.