How to change the creation date in finder to Date/Time Original in Exif data

[ktrager]

I've taken all my photos and videos of Icloud, to find out that all the file creation dates are set to the day the file was downloaded from Icloud.
I checked with ExifTool and it seems that all the correct dates and times is stored in the exif data under 'Date/Time Original', but not in the file creation date (as shown e.g. in Finder) it has the wrong date and times.

I've tried to do a few different things with ExifTool, but nothing changed the creation date.
Does anyone know how to do this with ExifTool?

[Phil Harvey]

exiftool "-filecreatedate<datetimeoriginal" FILEorDIR

- Phil

[ktrager]

Thank you Phil for your quick reply.

It worked out really well except it didn't change any of my .mov's in the folder...
Im pretty sure I read that ExifTool supports .mov

the terminal gives me:
Warning: No writable tags set from /Users/trager/Desktop/photos/IMG_1150.MOV
Warning: [minor] The ExtractEmbedded option may find more tags in the movie data - /Users/trager/Desktop/photos/IMG_0716.MOV

Do you have any idea why this might be the case?

[StarGeek]

Mov files usually don't have a DateTimeOriginal tag.  Instead, you probably want to use CreateDate.
exiftool "-FileCreateDate<CreateDate" -ext Mov FileOrDir

[ktrager]

That makes a lot of sense, and it works beautifully.

Also a huge thanks to Phill for creating ExifTool.

[ImAnoob]

Hi guys, I have the exact same issue as ktrager.

I have downloaded ExifTool and it seems like i'ts working but all the commands I am typing in are not working. It says "Pattern not found.
I am assuming I am typing in the wrong commands so can someone please write the right command for me both for VIDEOS and PICTURES.

I am on a Mac and most pictures are HEIC if that matters?

This is one of the commands i've been using: exiftool '-filecreatedate<datetimeoriginal' /Users/admin/Downloads/test/

I've made a document called "test" in my Downloads where i have all the documents that need to change their created date to the actual created date which is in the meta data.

Please help, thank you very much.

[StarGeek]

What is the output of this command, copy/paste the results here
exiftool -time:all -g1 -a -s /Users/admin/Downloads/test/

[Phil Harvey]

"Pattern not found" is not an ExifTool message, so there is something wrong on your command line.  I suggest you start with a basic command like this and build up from there until you find out what is causing the problem:

exiftool -ver

- Phil

Edit: I found a thread on another forum with this problem.  Try dragging and dropping the folder instead of typing the path name.

[StarGeek]

Also

exiftool '-filecreatedate<datetimeoriginal' /Users/admin/Downloads/test/

You are using fancy quotes. 
"" ''

In Terminal you need to use straight quotes
" '

See  this superuser post on how to turn off how the Mac "helps" you.  Also, don't copy/paste commands into a word processor like Office Word or Google Docs.

[Phil Harvey]

Ooops.  I should have seen that

[ktrager]

I gotten around to back up all my google videos from my G-drive.
They come as mp4, and I need to change the Filecreation date to the date the videos where shot.
I'm using the below

exiftool "-FileCreateDate<CreateDate" -ext mp4 Downloads/test

The exif tools runs through all the videos but nothing seem to change with the creation date.
Am I doing something wrong?

[Phil Harvey]

Define "nothing".

Did you try this command to see if the FileCreateDate was set properly?:

exiftool -filecreatedate -createdate FILE

- Phil

[StarGeek]

And if you're looking at the "creation date" with a program other than exiftool, you need to recognize that different programs read different tags and would need to use FAQ #3 to figure out which tag that program is actually reading.

[ktrager]

Turns out I'm simply an 'idiot'   
I've been looking at 'Date modified' and not 'Date created' - all worked as it should - sorry to take your time.
All works beautifully - thank you