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By Date scanned photos for Google Photos

Google Photos shows photos in order from newest to oldest, and shows albums in order from newest to oldest according to the newest photo included in each album.

Digital photos record the date and time when a photo was taken; scanned photos don't. We can add a date and time to scanned photos to make Google Photos show them according to when we think the original photos were taken.

These details are for Microsoft Windows, the details will be slightly different for other computers.

The Tools:

  1. Command Prompt
  2. Text Editor — something as-simple-as Notepad
  3. ExifTool — download this powerful photo software

The Steps:

  1. Make working copies of some photo files
  2. Make a list of the names of those photo files
  3. Add a column of dates and times to the list
  4. Change the list to show dates and times when photos were taken
  5. Add the dates and times from the list to the photo files
  6. Upload the photo files to Google Photos

The Steps in laborious detail:

  1. Make working copies of some photo files

  • Make a working folder on your computer.
  • Copy some photo files you want to change into the working folder.

  1. Make a list of the names of those photo files

  • Open a command prompt.
  • Change directory at the command prompt to your working folder.
  • Use the following dir command, at the command prompt, to make a text file that contains the photo filenames line-by-line — 
    dir /b > photo-datetime-changes.csv
  • Open the file photo-datetime-changes.csv in Notepad and look at the list you made — 
    20170521-042-3.jpg
20170521-042-4.jpg
20170521-042-6.jpg
20170521-046-4.jpg
20170521-046-7.jpg
20170521-054-1.jpg
20170521-054-3.jpg
20170521-054-7.jpg
20170521-060-3.jpg
20170521-060-6.jpg
20170521-066-3.jpg
20170521-066-6.jpg
20170521-094-103-1.jpg
20170521-094-103-2.jpg
20170521-121-1.jpg
photo-datetime-changes.csv

  1. Add a column of dates and times to the list

  • Open the file photo-datetime-changes.csv in Notepad.
  • Use the Notepad Edit/Replace… menu item to add a comma-separated column of dates and times — 
    Find what: .jpg
Replace with: .jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
Replace All
  • Look at the dates and times you added, in the format YYYY:MM:DD HH:MM:SS — 
    20170521-042-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-2.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-121-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
photo-datetime-changes.csv
  • Add a line at-the-top showing the required column headings: 
    SourceFile,DateTimeOriginal
20170521-042-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-2.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-121-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
photo-datetime-changes.csv
  • Remove any other lines that are not photo files: 
    SourceFile,DateTimeOriginal
20170521-042-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-2.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-121-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
  • Use the Notepad File/Save menu item to save the list you've made.

  1. Change the list to show dates and times when photos were taken

  • The photo scanned as 20170521-042-3.jpg was actually taken on the 4th September 1967, so change the date (YYYY:MM:DD HH:MM:SS) shown for that photo file — 
    SourceFile,DateTimeOriginal
20170521-042-3.jpg,1967:09:04 12:00:00
20170521-042-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-042-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-4.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-046-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-054-7.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-060-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-3.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-066-6.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-2.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
20170521-121-1.jpg,1956:01:01 12:00:00
  • Change all the dates and times to when we think the original photos were taken: 
    SourceFile,DateTimeOriginal
20170521-042-3.jpg,1967:09:04 12:00:00
20170521-042-4.jpg,1968:12:23 18:30:00
20170521-042-6.jpg,1968:12:23 12:00:00
20170521-046-4.jpg,1968:12:22 12:00:00
20170521-046-7.jpg,1967:04:17 12:00:00
20170521-054-1.jpg,1968:06:28 12:00:00
20170521-054-3.jpg,1967:09:13 12:00:00
20170521-054-7.jpg,1967:06:18 12:00:00
20170521-060-3.jpg,1967:06:10 12:00:00
20170521-060-6.jpg,1971:05:04 12:00:00
20170521-066-3.jpg,1959:10:23 12:00:00
20170521-066-6.jpg,1968:11:11 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-1.jpg,1968:03:23 12:00:00
20170521-094-103-2.jpg,1971:10:04 12:00:00
20170521-121-1.jpg,1968:04:19 12:00:00
  • Use the Notepad File/Save menu item to save the changes you've made.
  • Close Notepad.

    Figuring out when as-best-we-know the original photos were taken can be a lot of work, so keep an up-to-date duplicate of the photo-datetime-changes.csv file somewhere else. (For example, attach the file to a draft email).

  1. Add the dates and times from the list to the photo files

  • Open a command prompt.
  • Change directory at the command prompt to your working folder.
  • Use the following ExifTool command, at the command prompt, to change the "Date taken" of each photo file to match the corresponding date and time you listed in photo-datetime-changes.csv — 
    exiftool -overwrite_original -csv=photo-datetime-changes.csv .

Warning: [minor] Possibly incorrect maker notes offsets (fix by 4186?) - ./20170521-042-4.jpg
    1 directories scanned
   15 image files updated
  • Check that the Microsoft Windows property "Date taken" now shows the dates and times you wanted, for those photo files.

  1. Upload the photo files to Google Photos

  • If the photo files had been uploaded before making these changes, then it may be better to delete them from Google Photos before uploading these changed files: to avoid duplicates.
  • Upload the photo files to Google Photos
  • Delete the working copies of the photo files from your working folder

Summary:

Google Photos does provide a convenient way to manually add dates and times that can only be seen in Google Photos. When there are hundreds or thousands of photos that need dates and times, we should record that information in the photo files so we can see those dates and times wherever we have the photo files.

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