Is it ok to change a photo's date back to the 1800's?

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Level 1

15 points

Is it ok to change a photo's date back to the 1800's?

I think I need to change dates on about 400 photos. Would entering a date back to the 1800's cause an issue with the computer?

This portion of my family history project, which I had completely organized in Events in iPhoto, in Photo is now a bunch of totally random photos. They were originally scanned in groups as I found them over a period of years - so in Moments - one big mess. I had them in Events either by individual or their own family unit, and of course I could merge them or add to them however I needed to.

Not sure yet, but I think my best option now is to change the dates first, just to try and get some semblance of order to it, then try to work out a system with Albums.

Thanks,

Lynne

OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on May 17, 2016 12:05 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,699 points

May 17, 2016 12:28 PM in response to lynnefrombc

I have used "Adjust Date & Time" to move back the dates to the year 1000, without any ill effects.

I did it to split moments - it is very convenient to separate them simply by moving some photos back in time by 1000 years. So adjusting the dates by 200 years should be no problem.

To adjust the dates of sins I am using this script: See this User Tip: Script: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8421

This script can be used to set the date and time of selected photos to a fixed date, incremented by a constant interval, for example a minute. I am using it, if I do not know the exact date and time, but just want to step the the time, so the photos can be sorted by time.

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Answer 2

lynnefrombc Author

Level 1

15 points

May 17, 2016 5:11 PM in response to léonie

Thanks so much, Léonie! I downloaded your script and kept the instructions. I think it's going to be a big help.

Splitting moments - going back 1000 yrs ? Genius move I think - so the new moment would turn up at the beginning of Moments...I don't see how that helps...but I'm not the genius who can write scripts 😉

I'll use the date adjustment though for splitting moments in my day-to-day photos - (hate having the cat photos mixed in with the baking LOL) - or maybe before too long some kind apple techie will give us back the simple choice to "split moment".

Thanks again,

Lynne

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,699 points

May 18, 2016 9:30 AM in response to lynnefrombc

Genius move I think - so the new moment would turn up at the beginning of Moments

It helps to keep the photos sent to my by other persons separated from my own photos in the moments - for several reasons it that useful.

Let's say I am on vacation, and while in Panama taking pictures my family keeps sending photos not tagged with GPS. These photos will appear among my Panama photos in the moments. I could tag the photos with GPS, but they would break the collections. It is easy to shift them to a date in a different millennium where I can easily recognize the correct date.

Having too many different locations for the photos from one year is problematic. As soon as we have more than 7 different countries in a certain year, the year view will no longer show the places and it is impossible to see a map for all photos taken that year. I have either to hide the photos sent to me by others, or move them to a different Photos Library, or move them to a different millennium to get them out of the way.

There are already photos from too many countries in 2016, so I have to do something about it.

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Answer 4

lynnefrombc Author

Level 1

15 points

May 18, 2016 9:29 AM in response to léonie

Your life sounds amazing! 😎 I see why you had to get creative.

Obviously you have a ton of photos - I was thinking I should write to Apple and ask them to find someone knowledgable (about their product) who has a really large number of photos to organize and listen to that person's advice. YOU would be the person 🙂. I hope they listen when you make suggestions - your work-around works for you, but I don't see how they can justify you needing it, when splitting Events was so simple. And it's SO necessary! 😠

I'm sure I'm not alone in having a lot of photos and no tech knowledge. Can't 'write script' 😕 can only work with what they give me - and if it weren't for this forum and the patience of people on it, I probably wouldn't have found half of what's in Photo (or iPhoto before it).

Thanks again for your help,

Best,

Lynne

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,699 points

May 18, 2016 9:54 AM in response to lynnefrombc

My pleasure, Lynne.

You can help to improve Photos as well by sending feedback to Apple. Here is link to the form: Apple - Photos - Feedback

Apple has already improved Photos compared to the first version released a year ago. And I hope the next release with the next OS X will even be better.

You can try to replace the events by albums as recommended by Old Toad.

See this link: Moments in Photos are the New Events

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Answer 6

lynnefrombc Author

Level 1

15 points

May 18, 2016 2:28 PM in response to léonie

Yes Photos is much better now, I haven't been able to play with my photos much over the winter but I started using it last fall. Just a day ago, I upgraded to El Capitan, and yes, photos has improved a lot. And, I think there are improvements over iPhoto, with this one exception of Moments -

I still have iPhoto but only for reference - so I can always confirm that I've got all my photos & information. Of course I could use iPhoto, but I don't think that'd be too smart - these really old photos are in a library of their own, and I want to put the most important ones into a document with short write-ups. By the time I get all this together, I doubt Pages will be compatible with iPhoto any more.

Old Toad's link - I'd seen this before, but hadn't investigated it for myself. I did some tests after gettting your note - and for this one library, this might be the way to go. I tested it OT's way first, but even better (for my situation, with all the photos already scanned) - I found you can create a new album (not Smart) under the iPhoto album, and you can just drag photos from Moments directly into it. And, by choosing Sort by Newest first, the ones added are at the top of the list in the sidebar. Could also put folder titles in caps, just to set the section apart visually.

I was surprised that you still have full access to all the editing tools, description and keywords are there and that 'Favouriting' works. Pages allows selecting from Favourites.

Lots to think about!

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