Exported files from Photos show wrong created date in Finder

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Level 1

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Exported files from Photos show wrong created date in Finder

It's been a while since I last backed up the photos on my phone and I'm running into some issues. The last export I made from Photos was in January, and I dragged all of the photos into a folder on an external harddrive. Looking back at that folder in Finder, every one of the dates were correct. Meaning, they display the Created date the photo was taken, not when the files were put into Finder. I didn't do anything to those files other than organize them into folders, I didn't change any of the information or metadata.

Now, no matter how I export images/videos from Photos, the Created date is always the exact time I did the export, or even 2-3 days ago. I've taken 2,000+ photos since January, it's a huge inconvenience not having them organized by date. I don't know why this worked for me just a few months ago. When I import photos from my camera's SD card, Finder always displays the Created date as the date the photo was taken, so I don't understand why it can't do the same for my phone.

I was running on OS High Sierra, then just today updated to Mojave, thinking that maybe it was a bug that had been fixed, but I'm still having trouble.

macOS Mojave (10.14)

Posted on Oct 14, 2018 12:04 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,990 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:07 AM in response to alextinder

There are two kinds of metadata involved when you consider jpeg or other image file.

One is the file data. This is what the Finder shows. This tells you nothing about the contents of the file, just the File itself.

The problem with File metadata is that it can easily change as the file is moved from place to place or exported, e-mailed, uploaded etc.

Photographs have also got both Exif and IPTC metadata. The date and time that your camera snapped the Photograph is recorded in the Exif metadata. Regardless if what the file date says, this is the actual time recorded by the camera.

Photo applications like iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Picasa, Photoshop etc get their date and time from the Exif metadata.

When you export from iPhoto to the Finder new file is created containing your Photo (and its Exif). The File date is - quite accurately - reported as the date of Export.

However, the Photo Date doesn't change.

The problem is that the Finder doesn't work with Exif.

So, your photo has the correct date, and so does the file, but they are different things. To sort on the Photo date you'll need to use a photo app.

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,990 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:24 AM in response to alextinder

I don't know why, possibly because they'd never been edited or something.

There are several apps that will work with the exif date. For instance

http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/

will add the exif date to the filename, or edit the file data, among (many) other things.

Or

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/25698/shootshifter

will manipulate the files in various ways based on the Exif.

But the fact remains that the Finder is for organising files, and doesn't really care what kind of files they are, and doesn't leverage the metadata based on content. Why not just back up the whole library?

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,990 points

Oct 14, 2018 1:02 AM in response to alextinder

They using Image Capture (it's in your Applications folder). it moves files directly to where you want them, and avoids the whole import/export business.

That is not a back up. If that drive goes down you lose all your photos. And there are very few certain things in life, but every hard drive dies eventually.

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Answer 4

alextinder Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:18 AM in response to Yer_Man

But why was I able to do this correctly just a few months ago? I'm following the exact same steps as before. Dragging the files in Photos directly into a folder in Finder and that's it. I look at photos imported back in January that were taken in November and December, and the dates are all 100% correct. None of them have the date of the import as the Created date, only the Added and/or Last Modified date.

I'm trying to organize all of my photos in folders on an external hard drive, and this is proving to be incredibly difficult and time consuming to not have a functionality that I had during my last Photos export. I'm running on hour 5 of what should have been a <1 hour process.

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Answer 5

alextinder Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:37 AM in response to Yer_Man

I haven't edited any of these photos. They're exactly the same as the day they were taken.

Unfortunately those apps cost money, and the idea of paying for something I once was able to do for free just doesn't sit right with me.

I don't want to back up the whole library because I want to be able to view these photos no matter what kind of computer I'm using and without the need of an app other than a file manager. I also delete photos often after they've been backed up, so that would mean creating a brand new backup each time, I couldn't just have 1 library backup and be done with it. I imagine I would run out of space very quickly as I can't just replace the library each time on my hard drive.

If Finder is for organizing files, I don't think it's doing a very good job if such a huge feature is completely missing now. For years I've been backing up photos in this way, previously with iPhoto, and this is the first time I haven't been able to see a correct Created date in Finder.

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,990 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:43 AM in response to alextinder

Honestly, the fact that you were able to drag and drop and maintain the file date is the anomaly. I've been using Mac for years and it never happens. So, that's all I can say on that.

If you delete files after a back up then you don't have a back up. A back up is two copies of a file (at least), each on different disks (at least).

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Answer 7

alextinder Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 14, 2018 12:56 AM in response to Yer_Man

Then I don't know what you want to call it. But I think you understand what I mean. I take a photo. I put it on an external hard drive. I delete the photo on my phone. I never keep 100% of my photos on my phone because it is a waste of space. If I move them to a hard drive, I call that a backup.

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Answer 8

alextinder Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 14, 2018 1:14 AM in response to Yer_Man

For the purpose of what we are talking about, this is 100% a backup until I eventually delete a few photos here and there. Regardless, this is just semantics. I want to move all photos since January onto a hard drive as a backup and retain all information. I'm not talking about deleting photos tomorrow or even any time soon. So for now, it is indeed a backup.

It seems that Image Capture is only showing around 1,500 of the ~2,000 photos I'm looking to move.

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