Incorrect photo created dates

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Incorrect photo created dates

I have thousands of photos, previously on a Windows PC, that are largely file in folders by year and sub folders by month (with a few additional subfolders for special events). These cover the period up to around 2014 when I started using an Iphone for photos and are old Digital and even scanned older photos.

After transferring these to a Mac l last year is is apparent that many of the images have incorrect created and modified dates, meaning that they have imported to the wrong years in PHOTOS

My plan is to start again and reset my Mac to new and re-import but first I need to be able to amend the created dates to match the folder dates

Can anyone help on how to do this in batches? Is there an App for example?

I have the old Windows PC still available and the folders are on a back up drive so I can work on them in Windows or on the Mac (neither seem to provide a simple option!)

Thanks for any suggestions

Posted on Jan 27, 2020 6:16 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

kforbesrolfsen

Level 1

29 points

Jan 27, 2020 1:32 PM in response to neilfromsandiacre

Do you have the imported pictures on an external disk? In that case you can connect the device to your Mac and look for the information in your files. Maybe you can import one by one month and change the date when you accept to import them? I believe I remember that I was asked to import them with or without the original information. In the Import section I also believe that you can change information for the pictures by bulk when you are importing them. I can see that this is a lot of work but maybe it is easier than changing the dates one by one.
Sorry, I'm not sure how to change the dates of a lot of pictures at the same time. Maybe someone else can help you. better than me!

Good luck!

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Answer 2

Jan 27, 2020 11:02 AM in response to neilfromsandiacre

Thanks rbesrolfsen - seems like you understand my problem to a degree. I have, however, 2 issues to start with:

The existing created dates are not necessarily correct meaning that, once imported to Photos, I have lost the original dates the only way I now know the original dates is from the folders they are in
more importantly i can’t find a way to change the created dates. Given the sheer number of photos I have to be able to change them in ‘bulk’. Suggestions please?

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Answer 3

Jan 27, 2020 7:19 AM in response to neilfromsandiacre

I did just the same when i went to Mac for PC. I had all my pictures sorted in albums by year and month. When transfering the pictures they of course were sorted by date taken or transfered to the computer, which I did not take into consideration simply because I didn't know 😥 So if you want to transfer your pictures from a backup again make sure the date of the file is the date you want them to sort by on your Mac. It took me an awful long time to change the dates on my Mac. At that time I had apx. 20.000 pictuers and videos 😮 Good luck!

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Answer 4

Jan 27, 2020 2:05 PM in response to kforbesrolfsen

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll wait and see if anyone can offer any alternative solutions and then may try your suggestion. Incidentally, I have the folder set-up of photos both in Windows hard drive AND a back-up hard drive (which I used to transfer to the Mac)

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Answer 5

Jan 27, 2020 2:17 PM in response to neilfromsandiacre

As I said: Good luck!

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Incorrect photo created dates

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