ExifTool Forum

ExifTool => Newbies => Topic started by: West Swan on October 22, 2021, 05:39:30 AM

Title: How to change the date created and all other dates to the date taken
Post by: West Swan on October 22, 2021, 05:39:30 AM
Hello,

I have a bucketload of jpg files on my Windows 10 computer.

Some of them e.g. those that were taken in 2010 have a 'created date' of 2014 and a different modified date altogether.  I've attached one of them.

Is it possible so it will be less confusing when I'm browsing / sorting through them to change date created, date modified and all the other dates to the actual date I took the photos?

Some of the other photos in my collection don't have a "date taken".  That field in Windows 10 is blank for them so if I run all the photos through ExifTool I wouldn't want anything to change with these.

Not sure if that is possible?

Regards,

Paul
Title: Re: How to change the date created and all other dates to the date taken
Post by: Phil Harvey on October 22, 2021, 07:12:37 AM
Hi Paul,

Usually a command something like this will do the trick:

exiftool "-filecreatedate<createdate" "-filemodifydate<createdate" DIR

Add -r to the command to recurse into subdirectories.

- Phil
Title: Re: How to change the date created and all other dates to the date taken
Post by: West Swan on October 22, 2021, 09:28:24 AM
Hi Phil,

I didn't think I'd get the boss to reply  :D

Ok so what I'm trying to do is obviously wrong.

What I want to do is rename the file exiftool(-k).exe  to exiftool "-filecreatedate<createdate" "-filemodifydate<createdate" DIR.exe  and then drag the folder of photos into that.

Windows 10 won't allow me to use some of those symbols in a file name.

Is that possible to just rename the .exe file so that the photos in the folder (and subfolders) have their dates changed how I want?

Sorry but my brain doesn't understand command line.  I despised dos and I hate Linux for that reason as well (though there are things like synaptic package manager which make life more bearable).

No problem if it isn't.


Regards,

Paul

Title: Re: How to change the date created and all other dates to the date taken
Post by: Phil Harvey on October 22, 2021, 10:46:48 AM
Hi Paul,

If you want a drag-and-drop, then renaming exiftool(-k).exe won't work because you can't put "<" symbols in a file name.

Instead, create a Windows shortcut to the application, and add the arguments to the shortcut command.  I can't provide details about how to do this right now because I'm on a Mac.

- Phil

Edit: Ah.  Here's a link that shows you how to do this (https://www.digitalcitizen.life/shortcut-arguments-parameters-windows/).
Title: Re: How to change the date created and all other dates to the date taken
Post by: West Swan on October 25, 2021, 02:35:56 AM
Much appreciated.  Thank you.