Exporting iCloud photos should preserve the original date info in Finder

Many people complain about "losing" the original date for their photos while copying files from iCloud to their computer. Then, typically, Yerman explains the difference between different metadata and how I should use a picture explorer app to browse my pictures or another 3rd party app to change the date or other metadata in the pictures.


I want to ask the corresponding PM or designer at Apple to please support keeping the "created" date in case of pictures when the picture was created. No, I do not care about edge cases when multiple metadata can be useful. Finder should show the "created date", when the picture was taken and not when the copy of the file was generated.


Thank you.

MacBook Pro (2021)

Posted on Dec 3, 2023 12:50 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 3, 2023 1:49 AM

Which system version do you have installed?

The export behaviour has been changed in macOS 14 Sonoma.


After updating to the most recent version of macOS Sonoma, the files I am exporting from my iCloud Photos Library with Photos for Mac are using the capture date as the file creation date. This applies to images exported with "File > Export > Unmodified original" as well as exporting the current versions. It is particularly useful when exporting videos from Photos.


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 3, 2023 1:49 AM in response to levi-air

Which system version do you have installed?

The export behaviour has been changed in macOS 14 Sonoma.


After updating to the most recent version of macOS Sonoma, the files I am exporting from my iCloud Photos Library with Photos for Mac are using the capture date as the file creation date. This applies to images exported with "File > Export > Unmodified original" as well as exporting the current versions. It is particularly useful when exporting videos from Photos.


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Exporting iCloud photos should preserve the original date info in Finder

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