How can I transfer photos from Files to Photos in the right order?

So, whenever I try to move pictures from files from a certain file by “save images” the pictures show up, but not in the order they should be. They are all scrambled. How do I move them to photos in the same order as they are in files?



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Posted on Dec 3, 2024 12:20 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 4, 2024 9:49 AM

In Photos' Albums, you can sort pictures by date taken, or you can move them around to the order you want. But to get Date Taken to work, the pictures must have that date embedded in them-- in their metadata. If they don't have that information, then sorting by date will use the date the picture entered Photos, which will seem pretty random.


So, if you're stuck with pictures that don't have dates, you can move them around in an album yourself, or you can add dates to them, accurate or just made up, to get them into order.


The info window shows the date that Photos thinks is the Date Taken, and you can change that

with the Adjust button.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 4, 2024 9:49 AM in response to Issac Moreno

In Photos' Albums, you can sort pictures by date taken, or you can move them around to the order you want. But to get Date Taken to work, the pictures must have that date embedded in them-- in their metadata. If they don't have that information, then sorting by date will use the date the picture entered Photos, which will seem pretty random.


So, if you're stuck with pictures that don't have dates, you can move them around in an album yourself, or you can add dates to them, accurate or just made up, to get them into order.


The info window shows the date that Photos thinks is the Date Taken, and you can change that

with the Adjust button.


Dec 6, 2024 7:33 AM in response to Issac Moreno

Issac Moreno wrote: change the dates before I put them in photos app.

Check the app store-- search for Photo Date, or for Exif Editor. The Editors allow changing all sorts of stuff, like focal length and exposure time, and so on. The free ExifTool Reader can show you the metadata

This is maybe a quarter of the metadata for a picture. I see that used  GraphicConverter ($40) to modify some of the picture. GC is an app that can modify the Exif metadata, but it's meant to do much more.


I see, for instance, on the App store Photo Date Adjuster (free/donation,) which looks popular, but I haven't used it.


This sort of thing is great for files outside of Photos, but don't try to use them with pictures already imported to the Photos database-- they can really mess things up!

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How can I transfer photos from Files to Photos in the right order?

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