Please help nothing is working at all

[elenam]

Hello i can't get this app to work ive been trying for hours

I have images with EXIF metadata but the file create date is wrong. Tried to update all of the images in a folder called 2019. Put the .exe in the same directory as my 2019 folder and used the following command.

exiftool -overwrite_original '-createdate<datetimeoriginal' -r -if '(not $createdate and $datetimeoriginal)' 2019

The window just closed and nothing happened! Tried several variations of this command and even typed out the path name manually for 2019. No matter what I do the window just closes

Im at my wits end as i have THOUSANDS of photos with wrong metadata that i cannot do manually!! Please help i am desperate and dont know anything about this program

 Got the command from this github guide https://github.com/jonkeren/Exiftool-Commands

[elenam]

OK I tried running a simpler command literally just

exiftool E:/Camera Roll/2019/IMG_9206.PNG

JUST A SIMPLE COMMAND TO VIEW METADATA and i got the same result!! is it crashing? No matter what i do the window just closes. I cant get this thing to work at ALL

[elenam]

Now I can't type in the window!! none of my keyboard inputs are appearing.

What is happening?? I feel like it shouldnt be this hard to use a program but i dont think im doing it right. Please help me

[StarGeek]

The window that opens when you click it is not a command line. You need to open an actual command line to run the program.

On Windows, hit WindowsKey+R, then type CMD

See Getting started: Command-line ExifTool in Windows

Please do not create multiple posts for the same topic.

[elenam]

Just tried to follow that guide and got this response

Code Select Expand

'exiftool' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

[elenam]

Oh wait i found this guide and i am (hopefully) installing it correctly this time

https://exiftool.org/install.html#Windows

On step 5 it says i have to move EXIFtool to a directory "in the path" but i don't know what that means? How do I know what's in the "path"

[elenam]

Ok I put exiftool.exe in my user directory and it's working finally! I will try some commands now

[elenam]

OK good news I tried this command and it worked:
exiftool "E:/Media Library/Camera Roll/2019/IMG_9206.PNG"

Howver I tried this command to the same file and got a bad output:

exiftool -overwrite_original '-createdate<datetimeoriginal' -r -if '(not $createdate and $datetimeoriginal)' "E:/Media Library/Camera Roll/2019/IMG_9206.PNG"

Output:

Code Select Expand

The system cannot find the file specified.
How is that possible when it could find the file just fine with a different command?

[StarGeek]

Use the installer from this page instead
https://oliverbetz.de/pages/Artikel/ExifTool-for-Windows#toc-3

After installing, you will need to close the CMD and start a new one.

[elenam]

OK Now i just need help changing the dates. Here is the output when i checked the metadata

exiftool E:/Media Library/Camera Roll/2019/IMG_9206.PNG

Code Select Expand

ExifTool Version Number         : 12.96
File Name                       : IMG_9206.PNG
Directory                       : E:/Media Library/Camera Roll/2019
File Size                       : 3.1 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2024:08:25 13:27:28-05:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2024:09:07 22:25:08-05:00
File Creation Date/Time         : 2024:08:25 10:53:56-05:00
File Permissions                : -rw-rw-rw-
File Type                       : PNG
File Type Extension             : png
MIME Type                       : image/png
Image Width                     : 750
Image Height                    : 1334
Bit Depth                       : 16
Color Type                      : RGB
Compression                     : Deflate/Inflate
Filter                          : Adaptive
Interlace                       : Noninterlaced
XMP Toolkit                     : Image::ExifTool 12.68
User Comment                    : Screenshot
Date Created                    : 2019:02:27 14:19:44
Image Size                      : 750x1334
Megapixels                      : 1.0
I need a command that copies the info from "Date Created" (near bottom) to "File Creation Date/Time" (near top) preferably something that is compatible with an entire directory of files as well. Thank you so much for all the help.

OS: Windows 10
File type: PNG

[StarGeek]

The output you list has tag descriptions (see FAQ #2). You would want to use the command in FAQ #3 to get the actual tag names. That should be your default command when using exiftool.

Luckily, the tag name for "Date Created" is probably the same without the space, DateCreated. The file system time stamps are FileCreateDate/FileModifyDate.

exiftool "-FileCreateDate<DateCreated" "-FileModifyDate<DateCreated" /path/to/files/

If you want to only process PNG images, you would add the -ext (-extension) option, e.g. -ext png. You could add this on to the end of the command, making sure it is separated from the rest by a space.