AllenDpics Loc: Williamsburg Virginia

I have thousands of photos I have taken of the family and other things through the years. I have a lot of hard copy photos but they are not going anywhere. But I have a lot of digital files that I need to organize. I have setup a directory tree on multiple hard drives where I want to store the photos. I want to store them by the date they were taken.
My question. Is there a way that I can get the date out of the picture files so I can quickly send them to their respective date in my system?
It needs to be quick and easy. I will worry about editing the photos later but want to get them organized and backed up first.
Thanks
Allen

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

We need to know your operating system, Windows or Mac. In Windows there are search tools in File Explorer that would help.

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

Hey UTGhog, welcome to the forum. If I understand what you're looking to do you'll have at least one issue that comes to mind. The dates when the images where taken versus the date the images were saved to the computer, unless they were done on the same date will be different. To find your actual image taken date you'd have to look at the properties of the files, which will be time consuming unless there are applications for seeing that information in mass to make them easily selectable for copy/move operations. The quickest way would be using the dates the files were placed on the computer, in which case you'd just have to sort the directories you're moving from by date, then you can select them in mass for back up. Good luck.

AllenDpics Loc: Williamsburg Virginia

Window 10. I have looked at properties in file explorer but those dates created are wrong. They are when the files were copied to that location. I need to look at the metadata on each file. I have Aftershot Pro 3. I can see the actual date taken there. Now to figure out how to move files in mass. I'm still learning that program.
Thanks

AllenDpics Loc: Williamsburg Virginia

You are right. The actual date is not the same as the file properties says. I need to easily access the metadata. So far I can see it in Aftershot Pro 3. I have to figure out how to use it. Still learning. This method will be slow i think unless there is something I don't know....which is plenty....<g>
Thanks

pgerardi Loc: Bethel Park, PA

Hi, what I do is have a main folder (I use camera name) then a Folder for each year (2016, 2017 etc). Within each year there is a folder for each month (01 for Jan, 02 for Feb etc) which keeps them in order). Then within each of those folders I create a folder which is specific to those photos (trip name, occasion etc.)

Not that complex but it works for me, hope it helps.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I hate it when that happens. I don't know how you can easily get the creation date for the originals.

May help -

http://www.exiv2.org/
https://www.infonautics-software.ch/filedatecorrector/
https://www.infonautics.ch/blog/how-to-correct-wrong-file-dates/

The infonautics link seems like it would do what you want. It looks at the metadata and changes the date to the original creation date.

EDIT: I just downloaded and paid the $40 for File Date Corrector. It's amazing! I moved three images from D to C, and the date changed to today's date. Then I ran the Date Corrector, and it changed them all back to 4/4.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Open a folder with photos in File Explorer. From the File menu (at the top), select View -> Details.
There will be now be several colums, the first one with the file name, another one with the type of file (jpg, .png, etc.), one with the size of the file, one with a date, and possibly several more.
Right-click on any one of these headers, in the pop-up menu click on 'more...', next pop-up scroll down to
Date Taken and checkmark the box in front of that. Click OK and you'll have a new column with date taken. You can verify that it is indeed the date you took the photo by selecting a photo with a known date, like a birthday or something.
If you left click on the the header, File Explore will sort the photos in ascending order. Left-click again and the photos will be sorted in descending order.
Left-click on any one of the files in that folder, and on the panel on the right, you can add tags, titles author, comments, and a couple of other things. Don't forget to Save when you're done with this.
To search on tags, dates, comments, etc., use the Search Photos box in the top right of the File Explorer window.
I've use this method for quite some time now and find it works very well.
I think that regardless of the method you use, you're in for a fair bit of work, so take it in small "bites"!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

In Windows, right-click on the column header bar in Windows Explorer. Options to display are listed, add date taken. Unless they are scanned, it should be the date the image was shot. Then you can sort by date taken.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The OP's problem is that when he moved the files, the dates changed to the date they were moved. File Date Corrector will change them back to the original date all at once.

https://www.infonautics.ch/blog/how-to-correct-wrong-file-dates/

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

The File Find has options to search on Metadata. Can't remember right offhand how sophisticated it is on Date functions. I used it to find all my original JPEG's sorted out from the ones that had been edited in Elements by using a NOT:edited logical operator. Elements adds "edited" to the file name so you don't overwrite the original. You may be able to do a search on Metadata where Date IS… or Date CONTAINS… for the operator.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Date created maybe, date modified will change when you edit it, but it should not change date taken.
I copied a file to test - see dates in the image below.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

This is exactly the reason I rely on Date Taken. I really don't care a lot when I moved it from one place to another or when I edited it.
But in the sample you gave, Date Modified is before Date Created. Using and relying on Date Taken has never given me a problem yet.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Date modified=date taken=date created because it is the original; date created was changed when it was copied (when THIS copy was created)- after it was taken (but not modified). Date created also changes when you create a modified copy.
All of the dates are correct.
Yes, I primarily rely on date taken, but also look at modified.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I found exactly the opposite. The Created date changed when I moved files, but the Modified Date stayed the same. I copied another four images from D to C, and the Created date became today, but the Modified date stayed 2013.