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Folder of photos out of chronological order on desktop

I have a large group of pictures in a folder on my MacBook Pro desktop (NOT THE PHOTOS APP). They are out of chronological order, and I can not figure out why. I export them to another app and boom, they are in chronological order. I import them back to my MacBook desktop, and they are out of order again. I have used the drop-down menu and sorted the pictures by all of the options available, and it does not fix the problem.


Any advice?


Thanks

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 10:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 10:13 AM

Hi


You need to distinguish between the file metadata (information about the file) and the image metadata (information about the image in the file)


If you copy a file the copies creation date will normally be set to the date the file was copied. The image metadata inside the file (which you can view in preview with the inspector window, iptc tab) will show the image capture date.

Summary:

The File metadata is kept in the file system, and represents when that copy of the file is created or modified

The image metadata is kept inside the file, as exif and IPTC data. This won't change when you copy / move the file.


(Depending on your system version, if you export unmodified original from photos, you will usually get a file with the same creation date as the image)


You can also see the two different dates in finder, as shown in the screenshot with finder in column view. This is from an image I exported from photos in july 2019 - so the file has been created and last modified then, but the content creation date is still showing 2011...


However, finder (which is a file manager) can only sort by file dates, not by the photo metadata. You need a photo app for that.


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 1, 2021 10:13 AM in response to BigDip

Hi


You need to distinguish between the file metadata (information about the file) and the image metadata (information about the image in the file)


If you copy a file the copies creation date will normally be set to the date the file was copied. The image metadata inside the file (which you can view in preview with the inspector window, iptc tab) will show the image capture date.

Summary:

The File metadata is kept in the file system, and represents when that copy of the file is created or modified

The image metadata is kept inside the file, as exif and IPTC data. This won't change when you copy / move the file.


(Depending on your system version, if you export unmodified original from photos, you will usually get a file with the same creation date as the image)


You can also see the two different dates in finder, as shown in the screenshot with finder in column view. This is from an image I exported from photos in july 2019 - so the file has been created and last modified then, but the content creation date is still showing 2011...


However, finder (which is a file manager) can only sort by file dates, not by the photo metadata. You need a photo app for that.


Oct 2, 2021 9:18 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thanks, Tony,


Hmmmm. Yeah, I might have read this wrong. The Preview/Tools/Show Inspector/Exif box shows August 11, 2013, as the creation date. The Finder Get Info box shows a creation date of August 12, 2013. The Preview box Exif creation date is a day earlier. So, possibly the later August 12 date is the date that the photo was first placed into the Photos app file system. I assume that the sorting function then would sort by the later August 12 Get Info file date, rather than the August 11 Exif actual creation date. Is that what you are saying?


Here's the Preview Exif box:



And here's the Finder Get Info box:



The two different "creation" dates could be the same if one placed the photo into the Photos app file system on the same date that the photo was taken. Then the sorting by creation date would work, although operating on the identical file date rather than the actual creation date.


Still trying to sort out the mysteries of the various iterations of the Photos app.


-- Rich


Oct 1, 2021 1:26 PM in response to BigDip

I am running Mojave with Photos 4. As a test I dragged three photos, with three different creation dates, from the Photos app library to a folder on my desktop. The creation dates carried over. However, they were out of order. Then I selected the photos as a batch and did a View/Sort By/Creation date. The photos then were sorted in chronological order by creation date. I don't know what Photos version that you are running, but at least with Photos 4 the sorting works to sort chronologically by creation date.


-- Rich

Oct 2, 2021 9:38 AM in response to Rich839

It also depends how you get the file into your mac. If from an iPhone via iCloud, then my experience is the file is synced and retains its file date as when it was shot.


Other methods of transfer may set the file date to the date of transfer. When you export the image from photos, the exported file may get the date of export.


I always though export unmodified original exported the file with the creation date set as when the file was imported - though someone with an earlier verison of MacOS reported here that that didn't work for them.


The upshot - if you want to sort by image capture date, don't use finder, use a photo management app, such as Photos.

Folder of photos out of chronological order on desktop

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