Whatsapp photos without metadata

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Level 1

5 points

Whatsapp photos without metadata

Hi. Can anyone help me with this? I've recently started using adobe elements photoshop/organiser and want to put my photos from apple photos into the adobe catalogue. When I import them, many are in a random order. It turns out that I have around 30,000 photos, and around 5000 of them have been sent to me via whatsapp and the metadata has been stripped. The apple photos app has them all in the correct order. However, when I export them as originals, there is no date order to export so they appear only in todays date. How does the apple photos app store the date it is correctly displaying them in, and how can I add that file data onto the photos (in bulk) so that they then display correctly in another photo program. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for any wisdom. I've spent hours and hours on this!!!

Posted on Oct 7, 2022 3:36 AM

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Answer 1

Ralf-F

Level 4

2,741 points

Oct 7, 2022 6:31 AM in response to AMLJ

Please checkout EXIF Renamer

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10043/exifrenamer

This tool will allow you to restore the original creation date, after you exported the photos.

You can also rename the files based on some EXIF information.

Export will normally create a new file with the date / time from the export.

Ralf

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Answer 2

Oct 8, 2022 9:47 AM in response to AMLJ

> How does the apple photos app store the date it is correctly displaying them in

Maybe you by luck imported most of them approximately the date they were taken to Photos.

If Photos.app indeed does display the correct date, you could try to export unmodified originals with .xmp sidecar. The .xmp sidecar files should then have the approximately correct date. You could then use 3rd party apps like GraphicConverter or exiftool to copy the date form the .xmp to the .jpg EXIF metadata.

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Answer 3

Oct 7, 2022 2:42 PM in response to AMLJ

Where are you looking at the exif data? The file date you can see in finder is not the exif capture date.

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Answer 4

AMLJ Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 7, 2022 1:01 PM in response to Ralf-F

Thanks, Ralf. I've looked at a number of the EXIF editors. The problem is that there are 10,000 photos with no EXIF metadata. The only way to see the proper date of the photo is to look at it in the Photos app. However, that date does not seem to be attached to the photo in any way after it is exported. I could go through them individually and adjust the EXIF date, however that really isn't an option. I need to identify somehow the date that Photos has filed them in after they have been exported. Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks. Andrew

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Answer 5

AMLJ Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 8, 2022 1:29 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi Tony.

I'm looking at the EXIF data in the Photos app and in Elements photoshop/organiser. From my reading, whatsapp strip the EXIF data from shared photos for confidentiality reasons so the only date being recorded is the date that the photo entered into my world, not when it was taken. Photos shows the date I received it as the creation date. If I export it, even with the "unedited original" option, the new exported photo has a new creation date. Somehow I need to add the creation date in Photos to the EXIF photo creation date before exporting it. I've looked at Photo Exifer (and not paid for a subscription yet until I know if it works) but I don't know how I'd be able to use it to change the data inside Photos. Thanks.

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Answer 6

AMLJ Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 9, 2022 1:53 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks, Matti. I don't know where Photos stores the import date. I agree though. As they have all been imported over the years, the import times are approximately correct and I'd be happy if I could export them. I will read about the .xmp sidecar. I didn't really understand your last sentence so I'll try to get up to speed with the idea. Thanks.

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Whatsapp photos without metadata

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