Changing metadata on photo files,like date created

[vjaaan]

I exported hundreds of files from Photos so I could upload them to Google Drive/Photos. Many of them lost their important metadata. E.G., the "date created" became the current date.

I need to know how to change the "date created" on a batch of these files, so I can straighten out the mess.

Can someone tell me how to do this? Thanks.

 

[InsideTJ]

I use 'file multi tool 5' app from the app store. has lots of options for adjusting metadata, dates, etc.

 

[vjaaan]

I use 'file multi tool 5' app from the app store. has lots of options for adjusting metadata, dates, etc.

Do you know of any good free apps to do that?
[doublepost=1453499624][/doublepost]I was just looking into the app you mentioned. Do you know if these date changes will hold up on photos that were Exported from Photos and then sent elsewhere (like into a cloud backup service)? And is it easy to use for a batch of photos, making the same date change on them all at once?
Thanks for responding.

 

[InsideTJ]

I only use it periodically, so I'm not too fresh on the features. I came across it from a macrumors thread a couple of years ago. I mainly used it to set dates on scans and other pictures I was importing into iPhoto/photos.

It permanently changes the EXIF/IPTC fields, so they should stick. They did for me.

It's very easy to use for batch changes. You add a bunch of files, select the operation type you want, and it's almost instant. But still tedious. I don't think there's and easy way to correct photo dates.

There may be free, cheaper, or better apps, but that's my go-to. I had a folder of scans that I had been putting off date correction on, and just did a couple hundred files over Christmas. I used multi tool 5.

 

[cruisin]

If you are handy with the terminal: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/99536/changing-creation-date-of-a-file.

First move to the correct directory. Type cd, press spacebar, and then drag your folder to terminal (to type out the full path) and press enter/return.

For one file:

SetFile -d "12/31/1999 23:59:59" cat.jpg

For all pictures in the same directory:

SetFile -d "12/31/1999 23:59:59" *.jpg

Not as simple as an app, but for a one time fix you should be ok.

 

[vjaaan]

If you are handy with the terminal: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/99536/changing-creation-date-of-a-file.

First move to the correct directory. Type cd, press spacebar, and then drag your folder to terminal (to type out the full path) and press enter/return.

For one file:

SetFile -d "12/31/1999 23:59:59" cat.jpg

For all pictures in the same directory:

SetFile -d "12/31/1999 23:59:59" *.jpg

Not as simple as an app, but for a one time fix you should be ok.

I tried that last step, to change Date Created for all the files in a folder, and it did not work.
At the $ prompt, I typed cd and drug the folder over and dropped it. Then I typed the words you wrote. Spaces were before the -d and after it.
I'd like to see if I can make that work for a folder full of photo files.

 

[cruisin]

Are you sure you typed in things correctly? I used

SetFile -d "12/31/1999 23:59:59" test.csv

and it successfully changed the creator date for one file and using the asterisk instead worked for all files in the current directory.

 

[chown33]

I tried that last step, to change Date Created for all the files in a folder, and it did not work.
At the $ prompt, I typed cd and drug the folder over and dropped it. Then I typed the words you wrote. Spaces were before the -d and after it.
I'd like to see if I can make that work for a folder full of photo files.

Please copy and paste the command from Terminal and post it here, exactly as it was entered. Also post the complete exact error text from Terminal.

You can drag to select in Terminal, then ⌘C to copy it to the clipboard.

 

[vjaaan]

Yes! It worked!! It turned out I did not have the developer tools installed in Terminal. I got that and tried again with one file. Worked perfectly. Also, the first time I tried, I might not have changed to the correct directory before typing the command; the error message I got then was different. This error message told me I needed the developer tools.
Now I will try it for a folder full of photos that need correcting.
Thanks so much for hanging in there with me!! I appreciate the help!
[doublepost=1453778525][/doublepost]One more thing, can you tell me the command to change back to a previous directory in Terminal. I tried chdir and typed the directory's name. That did not work. Plain old cd would not take me back.

 

[vjaaan]

Well, the command to change a whole folder is not working well. Only a few changed. To be sure, if I am in the directory (folder) that I want changed, I paste that command but use *.jpg at the end?

 

[cruisin]

*.jpg for those files. If some of your files are *.JPG then you need to do both. Your camera raw files have a 3rd extension so you need to use that. Or move them all to a folder and just use *

Ot of curiosity, is the extension the same and it doesn't change them all or are there different extensions?

 

[vjaaan]

*.jpg for those files. If some of your files are *.JPG then you need to do both. Your camera raw files have a 3rd extension so you need to use that. Or move them all to a folder and just use *

Ot of curiosity, is the extension the same and it doesn't change them all or are there different extensions?

All of my files or JPEG. A couple of days ago I read where they had fix the bug and corrected this problem. So I started to tested and found out that it is not actually fixed it all yet. So, while I can change the dates on the files that need corrected, as soon as I upload upload them to Google photos, half of them lose their dates.