IPhoto changing created dates?!?

For a while, I was using iPhoto only for getting pictures off my camera. Then I'd drag them into a folder and organize them by date. I had a ton of a photos I just got around to organizing and I've noticed that iPhoto has screwed up ALL the created dates on almost every photo. I usually organize them by date, but now I can't because of iPhoto.
Anyone else notice this? Any way to change it? Is there a program I could use to "reset" all the created dates back to the date the pic was taken? This is driving me nuts!

The question I have is that if you change the dates in iPhoto does it also change the date on the original?
Well, it won't change the Original Files...
Unless you tick the box marked *Modify Original Files*
Then I guess it might. But will only modify the Exif data, not the File data.
I have been searching high and low for a decent program that will allow me to batch set the date and time of photos to the EXIF date and time.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, but you need to move carefully. The FILE data can report quite correctly that a particular file was created today - say when you copied a file. But the Exif data belongs to the PHOTO, and can also, quite correctly report that the photo in the File was created on January 2 1996. Both dates are correct because both dates record the different things.
Are you trying to get the Finder to report the Exif data?
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Changing "Created Date" on image and other files.

I am scanning old family photographs and need to redate all of these photos. I would like to place them in actual date order, but iphoto doesn't allow that.
How can I change the "Created Date" on the .jpg files I'm creating on my iMAC?
Thanks!!
(And i'm fairly new to the MAC world, "I WAS A PC"..... ;-)

Hello & a warm welcome to the forums & Macdom!
There's the terminal method...
http://danilo.ariadoss.com/howto-change-date-modified-date-created-mac/
Then a couple of Apps to do it...
http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderAttributes/
Mac App Store - File Date Changer 5
And Automator method...
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57411491-263/how-to-batch-rename-files-usin g-automator-in-os-x/

Can't change created date

Hi, so I've uploaded some pictures from my iPhoto to Aperture. A few of the projects think that they were made in the year 2106. As far as I know my camera and computer are from the present day, and having these projects at the top of my list all the time is less insightful to future events than it is annoying.
I've tried changing the date and time in the Metadata, so now they seem to be from the real date, but the created time is still there when I go back to view all the projects. I'm just wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if there's another way to change that number shown.
Additional Details:
- Aperture v. 3.1.2
- Metadata date reads 2008
- Do not have access to a time machine
- Photos imported from iPhoto Library (the problem is in iPhoto as well)

Hey Tom, you sound like a pretty cool guy, so I've been working on your problem for the last few days. Here's how I got it to work.
Open the project in question > Select all the photos that need to be changed > Open the Metadata drop down menu > Adjust Date and Time...
Set the date and Time of the first picture, the rest will be rolled back by the same amount > Click the 'change master files' checkbox > OK
There will be a progress bar for a few seconds (depending on how many you are changing) Then go back to view the projects and nothing will look different. Here's where it gets wacky!
Right click the project > delete
Click the drop down on the trash can in Aperture > right click the project you just deleted > Put Back
When it's back it should be under the appropriate date. Hope this helps!
Lots of love, Tom

AppleScript: Use EXIF to change "created date"

Here's the deal. I have a bunch of photos that I have imported and exported out of iPhoto which changed their "created date" in the Finder. However, their "capture date" is still the same in the EXIF data. I would like a quick AppleScript application that will update all of the "created dates" to match the "capture date".
I have found all of the AppleScript pieces, I just don't know any AppleScript to put them together.
For example, I found this piece of code that will change a file's "created date", so I know it can be done in AppleScript:
on open files_
display dialog "enter the new creation date in format YYYYMMDDhhmm ex: 200112251730:" default answer "" buttons {"Cancel", "Continue"}
copy the result as list to {the newcreationdate, the button_pressed}
repeat with file_ in files_
tell application "Finder"
set file_ to POSIX path of file_
do shell script "touch -t " & newcreationdate & " " & quoted form of file_
end tell
end repeat
end open
I also have iMagine Photo installed, which can read EXIF data into AppleScript. (Here is their first help page, which is I am sure all you will need.)
I can tell AppleScript to read the EXIF data, and I can tell AppleScript to change a file's "creation date", I just don't know how to translate the information from one to the other. Can anyone help? Thanks a bunch!
Matthew

You may have better luck if you post directly to the Applescript forum. I know just enough Applescript to be dangerous, so when I really want to get something right, I go to the forum and have always gotten wonderful help there:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=724
Very helpful and very clever folks there.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

IPhoto ignoring Created date on imported photos

Hi. I just got my first mac three days ago, and I was excited about iLife, but I'm having some trouble.
I view a given picture in finder and see that it has "created date" of "1/4/2002 2:53 PM". However, when I import the given photo into iPhoto, the "original date" is "1/4/2000 12:46 PM". This happens whether I import from the file menu or by dragging from finder into iphoto. It does not happen with all photos, mostly ones taken with my older FujiFilm FinePix camera. I have thousands of pictures, and I can't manually correct them all. What can I do to make iPhoto correctly recognize the exif data contained within my JPEGs? Thanks for whatever insight you can provide.

Thanks for the link to the app. That's a handy little tool. In any event, it reports that the EXIF date is correct:
Camera-Specific Properties:
Equipment Make: FUJIFILM
Camera Model: FinePix2400Zoom
Camera Software: Exif Viewer Ver.1.1
Maximum Lens Aperture: f/3.5
Sensing Method: One-Chip Color Area
Maker Note Version: 0130
Image-Specific Properties:
Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Created: 2002:01:03 09:23:51
Nowhere in the EXIF data does the "1/4/200 12:46 PM" timestamp appear. I really don't know where iPhoto is getting it.

Iphoto changes the date on some events to a date in the future

I went into my iphoto and noticed some events had been changed to a date in the future. It seems to do it on random events. It also grouped all of my videos into one event dated the end of May. Does anyone know what causes this and how to prevent it?

Make a temporary, duplicate copy of your library and apply the three fixes in order as necessary.
Fix #1
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your HD/User/Home()/ Library/Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your HD/User/Home()/Library /Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
Fix #2
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #3
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

In IPhoto I changed movie dates after thumb nails were created in IMovie but the new dates are not showing up in IMovie. Is there someway to refresh the IPhoto event in IMovie?

Background: I'm transferring file folders from a Visa laptop via an external hard drive to my IMac. In the folders are photos and videos from different cameras. SO I first tried to import to IMovie but it would not recognize any of the files. So then I imported into IPhoto and both photos and videos were imported and I created events for each folder. When I first opened IMovie I had to wait for it to create "thumb nails". Then I could view the events in IMovie BUT the video clips are not together because they have vastly different dates and are mixed with videos from other events. I looked at the dates and said I can fix that in IPhoto which i did but those new dates are not showing up in IMovie. I think I need to somehow refresh the event data that Imovie is using but have not found how to do that in either IPhoto or IMovie.
I'm doing this on three events with about 100 photos and videos. But I have many 1000s more to do so need to know how to either fix this or delete these events, reimport, change the dates, then open again in IMovie. I'm sure that would work but I can't understand why changing the dates in IPhoto is not being reflected in IMovie.
Appreciate any tips or pointers.
OBTW this is my first question as a first time Apple owner.

It was suggested I move this question to IPhoto or IMovie which I did.
Well moving to a different discussion group did not provide an answer to this question either. But what I finally did was import one batch of photos and videos into IPhoto for a given day at a time. Working with these I could change the date and times in order to get them in the original sequench taken. Then I would create an album with that batch. These would all be on the same day (IMove was closed for this phase). Then I would open IMovie, generate the thumbnails for that album, and select the album I had created. This was necessary because the importing process in IPhoto was using incorrect dates for my video so it was a real struggle finding them in IMove until I developed this approach.
I believe that this whole process was so screwy because I was importing from an external hard drive not a camera. I had these photos on a PC and did not have the original cameras to use to import directly which I am fairly sure would have made this easier!

Copying photos from iPhotos to an external hard drive, changes the dates the photo was created

I have the odd query where when I copy photos from iPhoto in to any other folder, whether it's on the mac deskstop or an external hard drive, that the 'date created' on the some of the photos is changed from the date the photo was actually taken to some random date. This is sometimes the date that I move the photos and sometime a date seemingly randomly selected between the date when the photo was taken and then date I copied the photos.
It doesn't make a different if I copy or cut and paste each file, and if I select all photos from a single event and copy then all in one go, some photos keep the correct data and others don't.
Most of these photo of of my baby, so the exact date take is very important ofr reference. Current I have a 100 odd photos taken over a few weeks all with the same 'created date'. I have no idea if she was 10 week or 20 weeks old at the time.
Any ideas? It's really frustrating me.

No
iPhoto never does anything with a photo that is not in its library
Although it does not affect this do you have a default managed library or a (strongly not recommedned) referenced library - (The iPhoto advanced preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library" has been unchecked) which is strongly NOT recommended.
LN

Changing the date on photos in Iphoto.

How can you change the date on your photos without iphoto creating a "range" between the wrong date and the updated "new" date? I just want ONE correct date on my photos but when I alter the info under edit and i - it creates a "range" date like 1/2009-7/2011 and i just want 7/2011.

If you want all of the photos to have the same date with maybe 1 or 5 seconds between them use the File ➙ Batch Change ➙ Date menu option.
Click to view full size
OT

IPhoto changes the original creation date to 12/31/1969

Hi folks, this is a problem I have been trying to resolve for a very long time.
I have a large collection of pictures that I took with a Palm Zire 71 and Zire 72 going back to 2003. Every time I import the files with iPhoto (File > Import to Library), iPhoto changes the original creation dates of the jpgs to 12/31/1969. I have tried many different things... most recently I burned the files to a CD, confirmed that the original creation dates were still in tact, and tried importing with iPhoto right from the CD. I got the same result... all photos with the date 12/31/1969. All photos completely disorganized because of Palm's less than great file naming structure. I need to keep the creation dates intact for the iPhoto books I want to make with them, so changing the file names won't work as a solution. Even changing the files names to the creation dates plus a counter would be very difficult because it is over 1500 pictures. Does anyone else know of this problem and perhaps have a solution for it? Thanks!

Thank you for the suggestion TD. But the Batch doesn't help in this case because so many of the photos were created on different days. I would still have to manually go into each of the creation dates and change them back to the original.
That's just not feasible for 1500 files. iPhoto shouldn't be stripping the files of the creation dates at import to begin with. I'm hoping to find a way to get the import process to work properly for these files. The weird thing is that iPhoto doesn't seem to do this to files create on a more typical point and shoot camera,
but only on these Palm files.

How can change the created date on a photo?

Hi
I have imported photos that were originally taken in summer 2002 (and where dated as such), now they have been imported to iPhoto, the created and modified dated have changed to the date I imported them (14th Sept 06), therefore they are now sitting in the wrong years folders.
How can I move this pictures back to the correct folder i.e 2002/ I have tried amended the date in 'get info' however the date can't be changed.
thanks
mini mac Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I haven't tried moving photos among the 'years' folders, but you can alter a photo's date in the 'info' box that pops up at the lower left when you click on the "i" button down there. You can also change the date of an existing folder by the same means -- that will change the sort-order of the library.

I scanned an old photo but the date displayed is today, I want the date to be the date the photo was taken. How do I change the date of the photo in iPhoto 11?

I scanned an old photo but the date displayed is today, I want the date to be the date the photo was taken. How do I change the date of the photo in iPhoto 11?

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.

Exporting or relocating masters changes the created date on the new image/file/s ?

When I export or relocate masters onto hard drive (internal or external) it changes the created date? I have tried every option possible with no resolve. Can anyone help? eg. img98007.jpg (arranged by date in aperture and is 12/05/2001) when saved/created on the hard drive the created date will be 27/06/2008????

I'm afraid you've lost me.
You started off (it seemed) by asking why the image EXIF date in Aperture was different then the image file date in the Finder.
The best I can say is that when an image is captured in a camera you get one date. When that image is made into a computer file the file will have another date.
I want to consolidate/sync all my files over the last decade from iphoto libraries etc. The only way to do this is to import them into aperture then export them to the finder with the correct shot dates so I can sync all images.
If it changes the created date etc. it will be impossible to do so??
What do you mean by this? I can understand the consolidate, you want to move all your images from all sources into Aperture, not a problem, but what is the sync part referring to? And why do you feel you need to export them from Aperture once you have imported them?
And again the created date of a file is the date the file is created it has nothing to do with the image creation date.
Sorry I can't be of more help,
regards

Copy to Mac file Created Date uses iPhoto Modified not Original Date

When a photo is edited in iPhoto the 'Extended Photo Info' 'Modified' date field is changed to the now() date and time but the 'Original' date iPhoto remains the same.
Then when a copy is made of a photo in iPhoto and then 'Paste Item(s)' is made to the Mac desktop all the files dates default to the iPhoto 'Modified' date not the iPhoto 'Original Date'. Then if a sort by the 'Original Date' on the Mac is desired it will not happen unless the Created date file settings is changed for each photo copied to the Mac Desktop.
How can photos in iPhoto be copied to the Mac Desktop with the 'Original Date' used in the Mac file 'Created' date field?

when a copy is made of a photo in iPhoto and then 'Paste Item(s)' is made to the Mac desktop all the files dates default to the iPhoto 'Modified' date not the iPhoto 'Original Date'
Where are you seeing this date? In the Info window for the file with the Finder? That's to be expected because those dates are the file dates, not the EXIF photo created and modified dates which can't be view by the Finder. You will need to use a 3rd party EXIF view like EXIF Viewer for Mac OS X .
So don't confuse the EXIF date(s) with the file dates.
OT

Changing Created and/or Modified dates???

Just taking a guess this is the right forum for this.
When I download files from my cell phone (via bluetooth) the created and modified dates become the date of download. I would like to preserve the created dates relative to the cell phone data.
Anyway to do this?
Thank you

I have a similar problem to the one posted in this forum and this solution was helpful. However it does not work for filenames with sapaces, and it is very time consuming since I need to change the date of about 1,500 picture files. Is there a way to:
1) easily remove spaces from all filenames - not having to do one by one?
2) change the date to all pictures in a folder at the same time without having to do one by one? (I can change the dates of many pcitures to the same date, but it would be wonderful if I could add 1 day (or 1 minute) between each so they would always show up in the correct order in iPhoto.
3) Alternatively I could rename all pictures in a folder 'Jan2004' as: 04-01 (1).jpg, 04-01 (2).jpg, etc if I could do it in a 'batch' and not one by one that would solve my problem - this might be even best since file name info seems to never get lost/changed in imports/exports as date info can.
I appreciate your help!
Cristina
Background: I tried to rebuild my iPhoto libary and in the process I lost all date and filename changes I had made because I realized iPhoto does not change the original file info. I was hoping if I changed the original file info now I wont have problems in the future if I rebuild my library or also when I export the picts to other computers/backup.

IPhoto changing created dates?!?

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