Batch change date and time

Simply delete the text " * minutes" in the lines where the date is changed.

Then the time will be incremented by seconds.

For example for the first version of the script use:

set timeIncrement to 1 -- the time increment in seconds

(* select at least 2 images in Photos *)

tell application "Photos"

activate

set imageSel to (get selection)

if (imageSel is {}) or (the length of imageSel < 2) then

error "Please select at least two images."

else

set first_image to item 1 of imageSel

set first_date to (the date of first_image) as date

repeat with i from 2 to count of imageSel

set next_image to itemi of imageSel

set next_date to (the date of next_image) as date

set time_difference to (first_date - next_date) + ((i - 1) * timeIncrement)

tell next_image

set the date of next_image to (next_date + time_difference) as date

end tell

end repeat

end if

return "Adjusted the date and time of " & (the length of imageSel) & " photos. The last date is " & ((the date of next_image) as date)

end tell

One minute intervals are the smallest increments that can be created. That's because seconds are not displayed in the date created field of the Info pane in Photos.

However, with léonie's changes the date can be incremented in 1 second intervals but it will take a 3rd party application like the free EXIF Viewer for Mac OS X to be able to see the full date and time.

You're welcome 🙂

léonie:

Are you able to see the seconds in the Photos' Info pane for the date and time?

That's because seconds are not displayed in the date created field of the Info pane in Photos.

You could change that, if you want, OT.

When I experimented, I found that Photos is using the date format as set in the the System Preferences > Language & Region Advanced > Times

I set this format to always display the time zone:

In Photos I am seeing:

I've tried the same setup and still can not get the seconds to display in Photos. They do display in iPhoto, however.

I've tried the same setup and still can not get the seconds to display in Photos. They do display in iPhoto, however.

Did you restart both the Finder (Force quit) and Photos after you change the the Date & Time format? It usually requires a restart, but I prefer to force quit the Finder.

Photos is using the "Short" time format in the Info panel - the first line of the time formats in the system preferences.

It is really unfortunate, that the Photos developers have this tendency to hide information or display it only imprecisely. How are they expecting us to deal with burst photos or to get the exact date and location of a photo?

For my scientific photos I am still using the Aperture library, where the locations are displayed as latitude, longitude, altitude and not just as a location name without the altitude, and the capture date is displayed with the correct time zone.

Will your script work to change the date of the picture into the future?

In the Album I created - when I change the date of the first picture to a date that is in the future of the others in the batch the picture moves to the last position of the album.

That causes a problem in using the script to change the batch to a date in the future.

Am I thinking about this right?

Will your script work to change the date of the picture into the future?

Yes, it does.

when I change the date of the first picture to a date that is in the future of the others in the batch the picture moves to the last position of the album.

Drag the photo back after you changed the date of the first image. That will set the sort order to a manual sort. Only then run the script.

Thank you. When it is too simple, you sometimes can't see it.

HI

I tried your script and it worked after I had figured out how to copy and paste it into the script editor and run it. I haven't used that before!

I also tried selecting multiple photos in Photos and then using the drop down menus of Image and 'adjust time and date'. That worked as well however it is there any way you can make it so that the adjusted dates are all on the same day? It seems to advance forward the dates and the adjusted dates are on different days.

I am using Photos 1.5 and El Capitan 10.11.5

Many thanks in advance

I also tried selecting multiple photos in Photos and then using the drop down menus of Image and 'adjust time and date'. That worked as well however it is there any way you can make it so that the adjusted dates are all on the same day? It seems to advance forward the dates and the adjusted dates are on different days.

That is exactly why I wrote the script.

The built-in "Adjust Date&Time" will shift the dates of all photos by a fixed in increament. It is meant to be used, if the date in your camera is wrong and you need to correct it after you imported the photos taken with a wrong camera date. Or if you forget to set the camera to the correct time zone.

But Photos has no tolls to to set the date for several scanned photos like iPhoto could.

Thanks, didn't realise that. Just wanted to check that Apple hadn't in fact made it possible. Good on you for posting that script.

Just wanted to express again, Leonie, my heartfelt thanks for you posting up that script to batch change the dates on photos in Photos. I am scanning all my late mother's photos, some 70 years worth of photos. Without your script it would not have been possible to do the project as it isn't viable to individually change the dates. Many thanks once again, much appreciated and the script works really well.