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When I take a picture and put it in the Cloud, a creation date is tagged that corresponds with the date the picture was taken.
When I export the picture (in my case, to an external drive), the creation date is altered (and the real creation date is lost).
How can I export photos without losing the original creation date?
I am using OS 12.1
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.
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.
The problem I have is that I keep images on an external hard drive and try to organize them by the date and activity that took place.
As long as they remain in Photos, the date they were taken is available (this is true, at least for the one's taken with an Apple device camera). When they are transferred to the external drive, the creation dates become changed to when I move them.
I want to retain the information about when the shot was taken. Photos does not seem to allow me to do this.
I am looking for a solution to this. If Photos does provide this ability, I would appreciate learning how to access it.
Bear with me:
I keep images on an external hard drive and try to organize them by the date and activity that took place.
That's a photo manager's job. That's exactly what it is for. Photos is conceived as the place to do just that. What you're trying to do is use the Finder (which is a file manager) to do the same thing. But the Finder doesn't work with Photo Metadata, only file metadata. So, if you really want to do this then edit the file metadata to match the photo metadata - see the app I linked to above for a way to do that.
But why do it, when you have an app designed to be a photo manager already, which you're exporting out of? Photos can offer more flexibility and faster ways of organising your images than the Finder ever can/ Why not leave the images in the Photos library? Worried about disk space? Simply move the library to the external. Worried about accessing the shots in other apps? The sharing feature in Photos has that for you there. Whatever your concern, let us know and I'm sure we can figure out a workflow for you.
Tony --
This absolutely makes sense to me. It is analogous to what I experience with ripped music.
Do you have a photo app that you would recommend? Hopefully one that "plays well with" Photos, Finder, and Photoshop. I have an old version of Photoshop that I only use for (1 time) editing -- it would not be practical in this case because of all the steps it takes to boot it up.
Thanks for the illustration. It really made it clear.
Do you have a photo app that you would recommend?
To do what?
You can edit the file creation date to match the Exif using a variety of apps, among them
https://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderAttributes/
Tony pointed out that a photo app is able to access the date a photo was actually taken, even after it has been exported from Apple Photo and stored on a hard drive.
I am looking for a recommendation of a photo app that can do that and work well with Finder, Apple Photo, and Photoshop.
Any photo app can. They all work with the Exif metadata.
But again, what do you want this photo app to do? Photos is a photo manager with parametric editing. Photoshop is a pixel editor that has no manager capabilities at all. The Finder is a file manager, IN 99% of cases the date of the photo is a issue for a photo manager. You already have one - Photos.app - why do you need another?
The date the image was captured is safe in the EXIF data. Finder can show you both. Since you created a new file, the file creation date reflects this.
how to preserve creation date when exporting photos
