Sequencing scanned images after importing to Photos

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Level 1

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Sequencing scanned images after importing to Photos

When scanned photos are imported into Photos via the Import function, the date of the photo is the date it was scanned. The scanned photos are many years old but now have a current date. I can change the date on each one individually. That's tedious. When I batch change the date, Photos applies the same time period offset to each of the photos. That puts me at the mercy of when they were scanned which is not necessarily in the desired order. I used to be able (perhaps as long ago as iPhotos but I think more recent) to batch change several photos at once and there was an option to add a fixed number of minutes/hours/days to the balance of the photos in the batch. I can't find a way to do that now. Has the adding of an incremental time period been deleted as an option in Photos? I'm using a 2018 MacBook Air running macOS Catalina 10.15.4 with Photos 5.0.

What I'm trying to do is batch change the date on several photos at once and give the first photo in the batch a specific date/time. Then have Photos automatically add a specified time increment to the remaining photos in the batch. Thanks for any help provided.

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.12

Posted on Apr 30, 2020 6:45 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,607 points

May 1, 2020 10:50 AM in response to wkiser

Here's one way to do what you want:

1 - rename the titles with this user AppleScript: Batch Change Title to Text w/Padded Sequential Numbers. This will give you something like this: "Text you add"-01, "Text you add"-02,"Text you add"-03, etc. The Text you add can be a date for the group of Photos in this format: YYYY-MM-DD.

2 - Then you can sort by Title, i.e. alphanumerically.

You can download a compiled version of the script as an application from this tutorial site: P01 - Applescripts from Photos User Tips Compiled as Applications. The first time you use it Control (right) - click on the app and select Open from the contextual menu.

Another way is this:

1 - arrange the Photos in a standard album in the order you want. Select the first one and use the Image ➙ Adjust Date and Time menu option to set the time for the first photo in the group.

2 - select all of the photos in the album and use this AppleScript: Script: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date. This will apply the date of the first photo in the group to all of them with a 1 minute difference between photos.

You can download a compiled versions of the scripts as an application from this tutorial site: P01 - Applescripts from Photos User Tips Compiled as Applications

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Answer 2

wkiser Author

Level 1

4 points

May 1, 2020 5:31 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for your reply and suggestions. I've seen folks recommend the AppleScripts before. If I get adventurous, I may even try that myself at some point. I was hoping that the function was still available somewhere in the Photos software and that I just couldn't find it. Apparently, that function was deleted along the way. Thanks, again.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,607 points

May 2, 2020 10:34 AM in response to wkiser

You could put them in an album, arrange them in the order you want and then export using the Album name + a sequence no. as the new file name.

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Answer 4

wkiser Author

Level 1

4 points

May 3, 2020 12:53 PM in response to Old Toad

That is a workaround I'm more likely to use. I've just never been comfortable using stuff like the Terminal commands & AppleScript. I can logically follow this idea and execute it.

I use Albums to hold selected photos for a given year. Now I'm importing a couple of hundred recently scanned slides with photos from the 1980's. For many, I know the date (birthday, etc.) or approximate month. But when compiling the album, I'd like to rearrange a few or a lot of photos for the specific event. That way the September birthday party photos aren't re-dated a few minutes/days after the January ski trip.

Your last solution would seem to put all photos for the year in the desired order. That may be more important than the correct date. I assume it would keep the original date/time. So that may well work. Thanks for your insight.

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Answer 5

wkiser Author

Level 1

4 points

May 25, 2020 4:44 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks again, Old Toad. Problem solved.

I had some time and decided to try the AppleScript. Worked fine and re-dated all photos in the Album I was working on. Total of 164 photos in that Album. I didn't see an option for changing the time increment between photos from 1 minute but I'm fine with it. The photos are now sequenced and can stay that way sorted by date.

Very surprised that Apple removed that function going from iPhotos to Photos.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,607 points

May 26, 2020 9:25 AM in response to wkiser

In the script there's this part

set timeIncrement to 1 -- the time increment in minutes

(* select at least 2 images in Photos *)

tell application "Photos"

activate

set imageSel to (get selection)

if (imageSel is {}) or (the length of imageSel < 2) then

error "Please select at least two images."

else

The time increment between photos is set to 1 minute. You can change the script to reflect the incremental time change you'd like. Either open the app with Script Editor or copy and past the original script from the user tip, change the time interval and save as an app.

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