Bulk Rename Utility

Want to change folder dates to oldest file date in that folder 4/5/21



I have thousands of folders for all of my digital pictures. They are sorted by year, with a subfolder for each photo session. Somehow the dates of the folders (but not the photos) all got changed. I guess from when I copied them off an old drive to the new drive. I would like to change all the folder dates to match the oldest date that is in that folder. How can I do that?

Thanks, Andrew

The easiest way (IMO)...

(Nirsoft's) FolderTimeUpdate scans all files and folders under the base folder you choose, and updates the 'Modified Time' of every folder according the latest modified time of the files stored in it.
This tool might be useful if, for example, you backup a cluster of folders and then restore them into another disk, but the backup program doesn't restore the original modified time of the folders.

I appreciate the suggest, but I already tried that tool. The problem, I want to set the folder date to the oldest file date in that folder. Not the modified dates, which are now all wrong since they got copied from another drive.

Greetings Andrew, Im experimenting with FolderTimeUpdate.exe, and the version 1.55 also grants...
Creation Time: "Update the created time according to the oldest created time"
For me, it conducts properly that NewFolderDate==Oldest FileCreateDate, but Im only using the "Simulation Mode"

My problem is that for all the files in my folders the creation and modified dates were set by the process of copying from another drive. So this utility will not do what I want, to set the folder dates to the oldest file dates (not file creation). For photos the file date can be different from the creation date. Very confusing.

the oldest file dates

Explain?

A file, on Windows, can have a Modified, Created, & Accessed data associated with it.
A photo (or other type of file), may contain EXIF data, including a "date" (like date taken).

BRU should be able to re-date your files based on EXIF date codes.

If you files are then dated as you wish, then FolderTimeUpdate should be able to re-date your directories based on the latest (i.e. newest rather then "oldest", as you state) date of a file within a particular directory.

So can bru redate the folders to the picture taken date of the jpgs? Or do I have to run bru first to redate all the jpgs and then run folderupdate to fix the folder dates?
Thanks for getting back to me.

(Assuming your file dates are incorrect), you would first use BRU to date the files based on their 'Taken (Original)' (or similar) date.
Then use FolderTimeUpdate to date the directories based on the (newly) dated file dates.

I need a tutorial on how to change the file create dates to the picture taken date info in the exif. I tried out bru with the settings I think were needed and hit Preview, and it said no files selected to change. Where can I go for that basic info on bru? Thanks

I see in the pdf manual: "Bulk Rename Utility allows you to change the timestamp information for files and folders once you have
renamed them."
But I don't want to rename the files, just change the dates. Also, I do not see details on how to actually do it. A screen shot of all the needed settings would be great.

Please see:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4743

and

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5054

I looked at V2 and did not find what I need. Is V1 different? From the description I thought that V2 was just the revised version of V1.

Greetings Andrew, I cannot provide screenshots because Im no idea how to post them?
To change FileCreateDate==Taken(Original), just go to the Special(14) at the bottom.
Then click the 2nd checkbox from the right that says "Change File"

This opens a window, so then inside "Date Created", you just put a dot inside "Taken(Original)".
You can also do this for "Date Modified" and "Date Accessed", since those dates are also counterfeit?
Then you just click rename.

If your files had Taken(Original), then now their "Date Created" will be the same date.
So then its just using therubes suggestion to fix all of your folder-dates.

Yes, I saw the settings for changing the date and tried that, but do not know how to apply to the files. I got a "no files selected to change" msg when I did the preview.

To select files, you can either use the mouse, or also keyboard Ctrl+A to select them all.