Updating Dates On Multiple Photos Doesn't Work If Dates Vary

That option isn't designed to change all of the files to the same date, but change all of the selected photos by the same amount of time that is selected:

If you want to hang all selected photos to the same date use this AppleScript: Script: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date

ChrisHallum wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply Old Toad!

I get why someone may want to shift the time like this but they could have easily made this feature work for a broader set of use cases with less code. I'm really surprised they only satisfy an edge-like case with a first class Ux experience and then the most in demand case with a script most people won't be able to figure out how to run.

We simply need two different commands for batch changing the date and and time of several selected photos, like we had in iPhoto:

1. One command to shift the date and time, if the date of the camera has been set incorrectly, or if we imported the photos in a different time zone and Photos applied the wrong time zone on import
2. and one command for scanned photos or saved photos that have no capture time and we need to set the capture time to the same dates with small increments.

I wrote myself an Apple script to batch change the dates of scanned photos, when Photos first came out:

• Script: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date: it will set the date and time of all photos to the same date (copied from the first photo), stepping the date by one minute, so they can be sorted by the date
• Script: Lift and Stamp all Metadata from one Photo to All Other Selected Photos : It will copy all metadata from the first photo to the others, including the location and title and keywords

The photos will have to be selected tin All Photos or a top level album.

Having a camera set to the wrong date/time for a period of time (but by a constant offset) is not at all an edge case. It is not uncommon to forget to shift your camera for daylight saving time changes, or miss a change of time zone, or just flat set the cameras to the wrong date. (I think I've done all three at one time or another over the years.)

May I ask what demand you see for changing multiple photos to the same date and time? (I grant that it would have been simpler to code.) If there is enough demand for it, maybe you can convince Apple to add an option to work that way, either for one date/time change or for one user.