How to Change Picasa's "File Date" Via ExifTool?

[newoski]

Hi Guys,

I'm totally and completed stumped. I am trying to change the "File Date" listed in Picasa, but no matter what file parameters I change via ExifTool, it remains the same. I can't for the life of me figure out what parameter it is pulling from.

I won't muddy the waters by sharing the steps I've tried, but if anyone can share steps that actually work, I would really appreciate it!

[StarGeek]

I won't muddy the waters by sharing the steps I've tried, but if anyone can share steps that actually work, I would really appreciate it!

It's always best to include what steps you have tried because we might be able to see what went wrong and we may not have the program you're using.

Luckily, I still have Picasa on my computer (though I don't know why, I haven't used it in years).

This is FAQ #3.  Run that command and look in the output for a time stamp that matches what you're looking for.

A quick test shows me that I seem to have an extra entry that your example doesn't show. There's a "Camera Date" and a "File Date" and both have the same value.


Using my test file and FAQ #3, I can see that these match the EXIF:DateTimeOriginal. To test further, I remove that tag and try again.  This time it's the XMP-exif:DateTimeOriginal.  Once more and it's IPTC:DateCreated + IPTC:TimeCreated

Further testing seems to indicate that it probably will match the same tags that Google Photos reads, though I didn't double check them all.  That list is
EXIF:CreateDate
EXIF:DateTimeOriginal
EXIF:ModifyDate
GPS:GPSDateStamp + GPS:GPSTimeStamp (does not adjust to local time zone)
IPTC:DateCreated + IPTC:TimeCreated
IPTC:DigitalCreationDate + IPTC:DigitalCreationTime
XMP:CreateDate
XMP:DateCreated
XMP:DateTimeDigitized
XMP:DateTimeOriginal
XMP:ModifyDate

FileModifyDate

There's no guarentee as to the order read, except for FileModifyDate. That was always last and used if no other time stamps were found in the file.

Picasa doesn't have a reload metadata option.  The only way to get it to update a file with the new values is to remove the file completely from any directory that Picasa is monitoring, and then re-add it.

[newoski]

Thanks so much! I'll play with this info and see where it takes me. Will follow up if I have any additional questions and thanks again!!!!