Using Automator to batch change creation date of photos

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Level 1

10 points

Using Automator to batch change creation date of photos

Hi,

I have over a thousand photos that came off an old Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Using Smart Switch I brought them all onto my MacBook Pro, but they were all given the same creation date (8/8/2015). If I import them into Photos that means they'll be way out of order.

The photos all have the same filename format that shows the date when they were actually taken, e.g., YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.jpg or 20140504_123125.jpg for a photo taken on May 4, 2014 at 12:31:25 PM.

Can I use Automator so it reads the filename and changes each image's creation date to the actual time it was taken? Or is there another workaround that will save me from manually changing the dates in Photos?

Have looked around a bit and haven't found a good solution yet.

Thanks for your help!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 9, 2015 10:24 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,687 points

Aug 9, 2015 11:17 PM in response to woodstockian

Have you checked if the dates are actually wrong, when you import one of the files to photos?

If your Samsung phone added an EXIF capture date, you will see the correct dates in Photos, even if the file creation date is wrong.

If the dates are really wrong in Photos, check out the scripts in the User Tip section: Photos for Mac User Tips

perhaps you can modify them to suit your needs.

I posted a script, that sets the date and time for multiple photos to the capture date of the first photo in a selection, with a small increment in time.

Photos for Mac: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date

And this script shows how to read the filename of a photo and write it to a different tag:

Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename

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Answer 2

Mar 15, 2016 7:57 PM in response to léonie

Hello,

I am facing a situation in which I could not find any online assistance:

I have a Sony Handycam since 2010.
Back in 2013, the HD collapsed and I rushed to backup everything I had on it.

Fortunately the videos (MTS) were there, but something strange happened:

the files that I transferred to my computer was showing as the Creation Date the date that I transferred them (November 2013), however, their Modification Date was showing the correct date in which the movie was shot (2010, 2011, etc).

Naturally, when importing to iPhotos or Photos, the app thinks that all the videos were shot on 2013.

I am manually changing file by file - copying the modification date and saving as the creation date.

However, there are too many files (~2.000) and I am wondering if there is any way to automatize it.

Do you have any ideas on how to automate it? commanding to change the creation date for the modification date

Thank you all and kind regards

Lucca Tatoni

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,687 points

Mar 16, 2016 12:07 AM in response to luccatatoni

You could have a look at the "A Better Finder" application: http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderAttributes/

I never tried it, but it is rather powerful.

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Answer 4

Mar 17, 2016 5:23 AM in response to léonie

Thank you very much Léonie! It was very helpful!

I downloaded the trial version and indeed it will work (the downside is to buy the software.. USD15 - brazilian currency does not help haha)

anyways.. thanks again!

kind regards,

Lucca

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