Organize photos by date taken into folders

[zero_koop]

Is there a way to have ACDSee import (or otherwise move) photos that are in a single folder and separate them into folders based on the metadata "Date Taken"? I can see how to do this based on the file modified date, but all of my files were recently modified so they've lost their original modified date that used to coincide with the date taken.

[zero_koop]

I figured out the solution. It is a two-step process. First, select the files and then run the Batch command (it's easy if you've never done it before) and select "Adjust Time Stamp". In the wizard, select "File last modified date and time" and click Next. Then select "EXIF date/time original". Execute the command. The first time I did this it didn't work (maybe it did and I just forgot to hit refresh on Windows Explorer), but it worked the second time. I suggest repeating this process but selecting "File creation date and time" instead so that both metadata fields are the same.

After that you can use the Import function as normal to import folders from their current folder to another using "separate subfolders - by file's date"

[Emil]

I'm astonished to see that the path building routine of the import function still doesn't allow to use EXIF data! Although the routine allows to set the database date to "EXIF date".
Anyone else who would like to be informed what tag or attribute is actually meant by "EXIF date" and "by file's date"? There are several file date attributes and several EXIF time stamps.

[Greyfox]

..Anyone else who would like to be informed what tag or attribute is actually meant by "EXIF date" and "by file's date"? There are several file date attributes and several EXIF time stamps.

From my observations, in the import routine, If "Place in" is set to "Separate subfolders - by file's date", then the folders will be named from "Dte Modified"
and in advanced, if the ACDSee Database date is set to Exif date, then it will be set to Date/Time original.

And yes, that ambiguity should ideally be fixed, and there should be the option of having the folders named from the Exif Date'Time Original..

[Emil]

From my observations, in the import routine, If "Place in" is set to "Separate subfolders - by file's date", then the folders will be named from "Date Modified"and in advanced, if the ACDSee Database date is set to Exif date, then it will be set to Date/Time original.

I know these facts, but why doesn't AC tell this to every user calling the import routine?
Why do users have to set the date format in the options dialogue, far away from the import dialogue?

And yes, that ambiguity should ideally be fixed, and there should be the option of having the folders named from the Exif Date'Time Original.

- It should allow to use any tag found in the items plus any computer specific data like computer name or user name.
- It should also allow to format time stamps with strftime.
- A smart naming routine also should be able to for e.g. extract initials from tags like exif:copyright or exif:artist.
- Of course all strings build should be useable not only in the file name, but at any position in the new path.
... to be continued.

Currently the rename template can't even be any longer then just 100 chars for tag descriptions with length up to 42 chars ("<Multimedia Attributes:Samples Per Second>").