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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

Jan 5, 2012 7:09 AM in response to WolfpupNX

I am very frustrated with the photo-sorting issue in the iPad's "Photos" app. It took me a while to figure out that when using the iOS4 the sorting order was by DATE TAKEN, and it took a lot of work to accommodate my photo collection to that parameter. Now with iOS5 the whole thing is a mess. I've tried, as suggested in some posts, to erase the "Properties" data, especially the "date taken" entries, and to rename each en every photo in a sequential order (1, 2, 3, 4, ...). After sincing the iPad, there was no order whatsoever (4, 78, 6, 23, 145, 65...).


This is RIDICULUOS!! How can a company like Apple not be able to SEE and FIX this problem. Or even better, provide options to sort by date take, file name, etc.? There is NO WAY you can have a photo collection without a given order; it doesn't make any sense.


In the end, this is probably not an oversight or a mistake by Apple (after all, they cannot be THAT dumb!), they just want us all to buy Macs. Still don't think this is an ethical approach to attain that goal. What would Steve Jobbs say??

Jan 8, 2012 9:56 AM in response to WolfpupNX

I noticed something strange. iTunes apparently has problems when you try to sync from network shares. I'm using a NAS (QNAP TS-219P+ with FW 3.50) and all my pics are stored there. Even with the faststone guide it would not sync in order. Now I just copied the folder to my local hard drive and after syncing they were in the right order. **** iTunes *****!

Mar 20, 2012 9:17 AM in response to WolfpupNX

This gets WORSE and WORSE...



I sync my photos from a regular computer running on Windows (no network) using iTunes. I have several subfolders in the Photos folder, corresponding to the years the picture were taken: 1978, 1979, 1980 ... 2011.

Whith iOS 4, pictures appeared in the "date taken" order (which kind of makes sense) with no problem.


iOS 5.0 messed this up and photos started appearing in random order (or, as some in this forum call it, filesystem; for me its still random). The curious thing is that in some of the folders the photos are still in the correct "date taken" order, while in other folders (years) the order is messed up. I kind of got around that problem scratching the EXIF data and renaming the files, which I don't want to do in the first place. I like having my EXIF data and with this problem I have had to duplicate all my photos in order to mess with one batch and save the other in their original form.



The comes iOS 5.1 and you would think that after reading all these posts ON THEIR OWN SITE, Apple would have fixed this little bug and allow us all to use our devises as they were intended to be used.



Nah... They did not. What's more, now the mess has extended to being BETWEEN FOLDERS: not only are they in random order in the subfolders, now I have pictures that have miraculously jumped from 2011 to 1973!

For some reason, people at Apple are maintaining this problem. I don't think they are not aware of it. As said, this is posted on their own site, and some of the people in these forums have directly reported the bug to Apple. Aren't the supposed to have the "best customer service"? I also don't think that they cannot fix it; after all, they are "the smartest people in the business".



So... What's the deal? Are consumers being affected (by not being able to use their devises as intended) because of some disloyal marketing strategy?


<Edited by Host>

Mar 20, 2012 9:07 AM in response to WolfpupNX

I sync photos to my iPad from my Mac and iPhoto on the Mac. They appear on my iPad in the same order as on my Mac. So no problem there for me.


Changing the order on the iPad is something that Apple has not yet supported. But it is a good idea. I would especially like to change the order of photos for slide shows and perhaps use one photo moe than once in a slide show. No can do that either. And I'm stuck with each slide showing for the same length of time. Can't change that either. Oh well, for now, that's the way it is.

Apr 14, 2012 9:19 AM in response to WolfpupNX

I have used ipod touch 2, ipod touch 4 (ios4), ipod touch 4 (ios5)... to sync from windows vista / windows 7... folders of 13,000+ *.jpg files (web pictures, not photos taken).


Here is what i have found about sort order of pictures on ipod touch:


itouch 2 / ios 2

sort order / individual folder:

sort field 1: file name

sort order / all folders ("photo library"):

sort field 1: file name


itouch 4 / ios 4

sort order / individual folder:

sort field 1: creation date

sort field 2: file name

sort order / all folders ("photo library"):

sort field 1: creation date

sort field 2: file name

itouch 4 / ios 5

sort order / individual folder:

sort field 1: creation date

sort field 2: file name

sort order / all folders ("photo library"):

sort field 1: modification date

sort field 2: file name


The sort order for last scenario (ipod touch 4 / ios 5) can be seen by going to pc folder, right click on column headings to display "date modified" and "date created" fields. Sort pictures by "date modified". Go to "thumbnail view".


** Note that order of pictures on pc matches order of pictures in ipod touch individual folder. **


Now, click on "date created" column on pc.


** Note that the order of pictures on pc matches order of pictures in "photo library" view ('all photos') on ipod touch. **

The simplest / fastest workaround i have found (for pc) is to get "SetFileDate 2.0" from download.com (free). In one operation, you can change "date modified" and "date created" field to any given value for multiple files.


The effect of doing this is for all pictures now uploaded to ipod touch to be sorted on file name (both in 'individual folder' and 'photo library' view). The reason this occurs is because first sort field values are all the same ('date modified', 'date created'). So, the actual sort order is based on the second sort field ('file name').


** All pictures in photos app on ipod touch are now sorted on file name **.

(Note 1: this technique is helpful only if you dont want to preserve "date modified" / "date created" values for pictures... for example if you want to preserve sequence in which personal photos taken)


(Note2: i have also found that "photo manager pro" app can be used in place of default ipod touch photo app, which allows custom sorting).




Apr 18, 2013 8:31 PM in response to WolfpupNX

Wolfpup: I was about to Reply to your perfectly logical explanation as to what to do to keep photos synched to ipad in the same order in which they appear in my ipod cache folder, to thank you and say you changed my life...but then it didn't work. In each sub-folder of my ipod cache folder, I selected all photos, and checked the box to remove all properties. I expected the photos then synched to my ipad would be in the alphabetical-name order that I had painstakingly named them, but they were in an even more random order than they had been. So, then I thought, duh, I should have kept one property -- name. So I went back into ipod cache folder and selected all properties to remove but unchecked "name." Well, when that didn't work, I realized I had just removed *all* properties, so I couldn't really repeat the process but keep the name, since the name had technically been removed. So, have I totally messed it up? I'm sure not going to go back and copy the hundreds of photos into ipod cache folder again and name them again, then do the property-removing steps but keeping "name."


I have read some of the other replies here and will try some photo organizing app on the ipad probably. I tried one free one but it was a dud. This has been frustrating and time-consuming. I want and need photos in order on my ipad.


Any more help will be read with interest...and I will go back through the other replies again also.


Thanks!


mks

Jun 16, 2013 12:00 PM in response to markaysta

Hi markaysta,


The Photos application in your Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) sort your album with “date taken” from the EXIF data. The problem is the item Authors in your pictures is empty, and the application sort your pictures with wrong way. It’s very easy to fix it.

Select your pictures folder > Select all> Right-click> Properties>Details and then fill any name you want in the Authors item. Windows explorer fills all your pictures in a second.

Sync your pictures folder with iTunes. And now, your (iPhone, iPad…) sort your pictures like as you want. Good luck!

Aug 31, 2013 9:01 AM in response to Mikljensen

Not sure what your problem is. I've had Photo Shack HD (Originally PhotosPro) for over a year and it works perfectly. AND I've never had even a single crash.


Sorting is a piece of cake too. Just tap the "Sort" button. You can sort albums or photos within albums, and you can sort by Title, Filename, Date, whatever.


As far as the price goes, you knew that full and well before you bought it. Why complain about that now? If being able to sort your photos the way you want isn't that important to you, then quit complaining about it. Just live with the way the photos appear and save your money.


Like with ANY app, if it's not working for you, better try reloading it. Or better yet, contact the developer. Flaming a really good program on this forum because you don't know how to use it shows very poor character on your part.


Don't bother replying, because I won't visit this thread again.

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

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