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Photo dates

When I take photos on my iPhone and look at them in the photos app on my mac, everything is intact exactly as it should be. If I drag a selection of photos out of the photos app and into a folder, then sort that folder in order of date created, it does not sort by the date the actual photo was taken, it looks at the date the photos were dragged into that folder.


For my workflow I need to do this so that the photos app pulls photos I need down from icloud to export them so I can drag these into other applications. Why does it not allow me to order these from oldest to newest so I can get these images in the order I took them? And is there a fix? I can't just order them by image number as sometimes I drag photos out of multiple albums.


This could be avoided if I could force iCloud to download a specific album into the photos app so I could drag them out as I need them directly into another app rather than into a folder first and then into the other app, but when I try to do it, it won't allow it as the photo is stored in iCloud.


I wish they would allow more control over what is stored locally and in iCloud. A force download/upload option would be a game changer for me! Any thoughts or solutions? Thanks.

iPhone 11 Pro Max

Posted on Jul 9, 2021 7:42 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 9, 2021 9:31 AM

WaxerUK wrote:

When I take photos on my iPhone and look at them in the photos app on my mac, everything is intact exactly as it should be. If I drag a selection of photos out of the photos app and into a folder, then sort that folder in order of date created, it does not sort by the date the actual photo was taken, it looks at the date the photos were dragged into that folder.


There are two types of metadata for an image file: the EXIF metadata and the file metadata. Each contains a date created field. The EXIF created date is when the image was created by the camera. The file created date is when the file was create and that can change when files are copied out of the library or to other drives or down from the web.


So I you want to sort the files by the EXIF capture date you'll need to rename the files with one of these AppleScripts and then exporting the files out of the library using the Title as the new file name. Then when you sort by name they will be in the order you want.


Batch Change Title to Capture Date-Description-Padded Sequential Numbers

Script: Batch Changing the Title to the Capture Date

Batch Change Title to Capture Date-Location-Description-Padded Sequential Number

Batch Change Title to Text w/Padded Sequential Numbers (requires manual adding capture date to text)


The scripts compiled as an applications can be downloaded from this tutorial site:  P01 - Applescripts from Photos’ User Tips Compiled as Applications.  To launch it the first time Control (right) - click on it and select Open from the contextual menu. 



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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 9, 2021 9:31 AM in response to WaxerUK

WaxerUK wrote:

When I take photos on my iPhone and look at them in the photos app on my mac, everything is intact exactly as it should be. If I drag a selection of photos out of the photos app and into a folder, then sort that folder in order of date created, it does not sort by the date the actual photo was taken, it looks at the date the photos were dragged into that folder.


There are two types of metadata for an image file: the EXIF metadata and the file metadata. Each contains a date created field. The EXIF created date is when the image was created by the camera. The file created date is when the file was create and that can change when files are copied out of the library or to other drives or down from the web.


So I you want to sort the files by the EXIF capture date you'll need to rename the files with one of these AppleScripts and then exporting the files out of the library using the Title as the new file name. Then when you sort by name they will be in the order you want.


Batch Change Title to Capture Date-Description-Padded Sequential Numbers

Script: Batch Changing the Title to the Capture Date

Batch Change Title to Capture Date-Location-Description-Padded Sequential Number

Batch Change Title to Text w/Padded Sequential Numbers (requires manual adding capture date to text)


The scripts compiled as an applications can be downloaded from this tutorial site:  P01 - Applescripts from Photos’ User Tips Compiled as Applications.  To launch it the first time Control (right) - click on it and select Open from the contextual menu. 



Jul 9, 2021 9:30 AM in response to WaxerUK

Hi - When you look in photos, photos is showing you the capture date stored in the metadata, not the file date.


When you export, you are creating a new file, so the file gets a new date. The original capture date is still retained in the metadata, but finder doesn't use that for sorting, becuse it is a file management app, not a photo management app.


What you can do when you export under filename is use album name with number. The sequential number added to the album name should be in the same order as the sorting within the album.


Alterntatively you can use a third party app that adds the capture date to the filename, or re-writes the file date with the capture date.

Jul 12, 2021 6:44 AM in response to WaxerUK

Your problem is the drag/drop. This only copies the preview file not the original file. So it gives it a new file creation date.


Instead, select the images you want, and from the file menu file>export unmodified original (Note - you won't retain any edits this way)


Select the folder to export them to, and in that folder you will get an exact copy of the photo as it was imported to photos, including (theoretically*) the file creation date.


*theortically, because some older versions of MacOS did not do that.



Or you can use the content created date in the metadata as suggested by OT.

Photo dates

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