MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum QuestionsAsk a Question

How Do I Export Videos From Photos App and Retain Creation Date/Time?

I have been using Photos for many years now. I have a client that uploads her videos to a Shared Folder in Photos and I used to be able to export “the unmodified original” in Photos 3 and it retained the creation date. Thankfully, I still have a copy that I can use, but I’m trying to find a way to accomplish the same thing in Photos 7. When I export the unmodified originals in Photos 7, it changes all of them to the date I exported them. This does not work for me because she has over 500 videos each year and I make a “year in review” video for her family. However, I need to have the exact order (by date and time) that the videos were shot so that they can be in the correct order. Any suggestions for how to accomplish this? Thanks!

I need to be able to sort the videos by date/time in the correct order for the yearly video that I create for her.
—–
Marsha

Comments: 5 Responses to “How Do I Export Videos From Photos App and Retain Creation Date/Time?”

    6 months ago

    Don't confuse the FILE date with the PHOTO date. When you export from Photos it creates a new file and that file has the current date because it was just created. But if you open the photo in an app that shows the photo metadata, you can see the photo date in that metadata. Try Preview, it will show you the EXIF metadata.

    For your project, why export them from Photos at all. Just make your video and select them from your Photos library instead of the extra step of exporting first? Then it should get them in the right order.

    Or, in Photos, choose File, Export (not unmodified originals) and then under File Name choose one of the options that should keep them in order.

    Marsha McFalls
    6 months ago

    My client also likes a copy of her original VIDEO files on a thumb drive. So, I like to export them, be able to number them in sequential order (to satisfy that requirement) and I then easily import into them Premiere Pro and just drag-and-drop. Not sure I can select Photos from the Photos app in Premiere.

    Marsha
    6 months ago

    Also- in Preview- if I have 500 videos in there, exported from Photos- with "today's date" as the Creation Date for all of them, is there another sorting feature that will pull in the actual creation date that I can use to sort sequentially for the entire year?

    6 months ago

    Marsha: There's no way to sort them in the Finder by metadata. But the idea I suggested, exporting them with other options for the File Name.

    Colin
    2 months ago

    Gary is technically correct but it's not helpful. "Don't confuse the FILE date with the PHOTO date. When you export from Photos it creates a new file and that file has the current date..."

    There is no technical reason this has to happen. When I exported my old iPhoto library it properly maintained the creation date of all of the exported files. Similarly, copying a photo from one drive to another "creates a new file" but retains the original information. Dumb move by Apple...

Leave a New Comment Related to "How Do I Export Videos From Photos App and Retain Creation Date/Time?"

:
:
:
0/500 (500 character limit -- please state your comment succinctly and do not try to get around this limit by posting two comments)