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HowTo Sort Photos by Name on iPad (Windows 7, etc. - For Those Frustrated)

So I was very frustrated as I read manga, etc., sometimes in image file form, and the Photos feature on the iPad is perfect for it. Except, when I uploaded the photos in iTunes, they'd get all out of order, and as it stands, there is NO way I know of to sort them in iTunes or on the iPad directly - they are sorted by date taken, period, unless you have iPhoto, which I don't since I don't have a Mac (and there's no version for PC). On a sidenote, I hope Apple provides some photo sorting and more robust options in future updates as this seems to be a rather silly oversight.

Also, I did not come up with this fix on my own, but wanted to streamline it after a lot of trial and error and reading multiple posts on the forum which helped me figure this out. This is using Windows 7, but Vista and XP should be fairly similar. Here's how to get your Photos sorted correctly (It worked for me anyway, so hopefully my logic is right on this):

1.) First, have it set up to sync in iTunes, obviously, with your files in the proper folder (originals or copies - you'll be modifying some of the picture data, so a copy might be best if this data is important to you on the originals). Personally I made an iPad folder (to sync up) in my Pictures directory with image sets in subfolders under it (I believe the iPad can only read one subfolder down). You'll also want to sort the files by name as you want them to be sorted on the iPad.

2.) In the main iPad photo directory you've made, you should see another directory called "iPod Photo Cache" - delete this (it'll regenerate upon next sync with the new order).

3.) Get into your iPad sync folder and then into the subfolder with the individual files you want to sort. CTRL-A to Select All, then once selected, right click, select Properties, and then the Details tab.

4.) Click "Remove Properties and Personal Information" at the bottom. A new window should pop up. Click the radio button for "Remove the following properties from this file:" and then check the "Date taken" box. Alternatively, you can hit "Select All" if none of the information is important to you (what I did). Click "OK" to make that window disappear, then "OK" to close out Properties and accept the changes.

5.) Go back into iTunes, resync, and you should have properly sorted files now. Enjoy, and please let me know if this works for you!

Message was edited by: WolfpupNX

iPad WiFi + 3G 64 GB, iPhone OS 3.1.3, N/A

Posted on May 6, 2010 8:57 PM

Reply
31 replies

May 9, 2010 9:51 PM in response to WolfpupNX

Hmmm. Just did a few repeat tests, and this did work again, BUT, for some reason I get *reverse order* for some directories. While certainly less than ideal, it least you can start at the end and flip backwards and all the pages end up in order (as opposed to completely jumbled), but I still don't understand why the first folder is in proper order and this try is in the reverse. Hmmm. If I figure it out I'll post it - though at least this solution is a step in the right direction and makes manga/etc. readable... Sorry it's not as foolproof as I thought heh.

Aug 2, 2010 3:24 PM in response to pixel_hack

Unfortunately it wasn't this straightforward for me! The above method seemed to work initially on some photo folders but then I found that it didn't on others. I've spent quite a few hours today investigating and experimenting. The iPad definitely sorts on the Windows file attribute "Date Taken" - the difficulty is changing this attribute using batch processing of several files at once. My EXIF metadata date fields are correct so I would like to be able to update the Date Taken file attribute from EXIF data for lots of photo files in one go. No-one seems to have written a program specifically for this task. I have tried various popular EXIF utilities and have only managed to do it with manual intervention on individual files which is too laborious for all my photos. It doesn't help that when you try and manually edit this Date Taken property for an individual file in Windows you can only change the date, not the time.

In my opinion, the real solution is for Apple to offer us a choice of the photo sort order in ITunes. My preference would be filename, perhaps with options to choose the Date Taken attribute, file timestamp or date modified filestamp (EXIF date fields as well is probably asking a bit too much!)

Aug 4, 2010 10:26 AM in response to nphdigital

After further investigation and experimenting I've come up with a solution that seems to work 100% for me. I've documented it on my blog at http://nphdigital.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/ipad-photo-sorting-issue/

The sequence I use is chronological by date taken and my filenames reflect this. My procedure doesn't specifically sort by filename but uses valid EXIF metadata to sort chronologically. It may be useful if you require date sequencing but doesn't directly address filename sequencing.

Aug 24, 2010 6:08 PM in response to WolfpupNX

For others that were frustrated trying to sort pictures with Windows7. Turn on the attribute for DATE TAKEN and at the bottom of the screen you can chnage them to the order you want the pictures to appear. Delete the IPAD PHOTO CACHE folder, a new one will be generated. Go to the folowing for other attributes you might be able to put in a sort order. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4221?viewlocale=en_US

Feb 16, 2011 1:49 AM in response to WolfpupNX

Hi..Check out Sort Shots, which uses the power of tags to quickly sort and organize your photos. You can rate your photos (to sort your favourites to the top quickly) and tag multiple photos at once. Tags can be organized into hierarchical categories as well; the default top level categories are People, Places, and Events.The more photos you have, the more useful this app becomes
You can share photos via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Picasa,create slideshows and much more.

Message was edited by: khatrimitesh

Aug 22, 2011 8:22 PM in response to PeterM AnP

Actually, there is an app called Photo Shack Pro that allows you manage and organize your photos directly from your iPad's "Photos" library, without modifying the originals or duplicating them. All of your photos remain available for all of your other iPad apps. You can create your own libraries and albums, add and sort your photos in them, add titles and comments to your photos, and view your photo's detailed embedded photo metadata. It also allows you to view your photos individually or in slideshow, and zoom in to full resollution all the way up to 16 megapixels. I use it and I think it's a great way to manage, view, and inspect your photos without having to privatize them away from all of your other apps.

Aug 30, 2011 10:41 PM in response to WolfpupNX

Hi guys.. I tried this way and wasnt sucessful, almost got crazy. Been two weeks serching and then i discovered one thing. I converted one picture from JPG format to BMP and then back to JPG, and all f* EXIF metadata has been lost. All. So I converter over 6000 pictures, using my ACDSee picture explorer, there must be also other ways, in Photoshop or PhotoImpact, but if you convert it back and forward (make sure when you convert back from BMP to JPG/JPEG the quality of pic is set to hi, or max so after this final step all pictures have the same quality as before converting.) Now all pictures in my iPad are sorted by name. Yahooo! lol

Good luck to all, Martin

Oct 17, 2011 6:31 PM in response to WolfpupNX

After trying everything here, nothing worked for me.


So after looking at the support article here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4221?viewlocale=en_US

When you sync photos from your computer to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the photos may be sorted on your device in a different order from how they are sorted on your computer. Your device will look for the following EXIF tags within your pictures: 1 Capture Date 2 Date Time Digitized 3 Date Time Original 4 Last Modified


I looked into my Fastone Image Viewer software and found you can

1. order your pics in the folder

2. batch rename and it will rename and number them in the oder you made the files

3. delete all jpeg EXIF data (batch)

4. add/change photo time stamp exif (batch)

So this is how I did it (in Vista64)


Get a copy of Fastone image viewer, its free.


In pictures, make folder "for Ipad", then you can set up all the sub folders you want (I did this with copys of the original folders for safety and later reference) Delete the ipod photo cache, if its in the folder and/or the folder above it


In Fastone, navigate to the folder, i'll use "my pets" for example

1 Arrage the photos in the order you want (I could pre arrange them in the windows folder also)

2 Then select all, right click, tools, remove jpeg meta data, check the box, hit apply.

3 Next, select all, right click, tools, change timestamp, in the drop down box select (EXIF Timestamp date time photo taken), then select specify date time, use what ever date you want, hit apply.

4 Next, select the first photo in the line up, then select all, right click, tools, batch rename


You will see the files in the original sort order the computer used on the left, on the right you will see them in the order you placed them in. Then select Use Filename Template, Where it says Template enter the name you want for all of them, lets say, mypets#####, this will rename and number them in the order you set up. mypets00001, mypets00002 ......... You can click the preview icon next to the rename button to see what your results are going to be. So click Rename,


Then click Yes (this way it will rename the files and leave them in the folder)


DONE!!!!


Open Itunes, select the folders you want and sync.


After organizing the pics, its just a couple of mins to apply the changes to all the folders. And when I add new photos to a folder, just drop them were you want, and repeat.


Hope this helps Griff

HowTo Sort Photos by Name on iPad (Windows 7, etc. - For Those Frustrated)

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