By Year 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; but scanned photos don't record when the original photo was taken.

When scanned photos are already organized into single year (or year-month) folders, we can quickly add a date to the photo files so at-least Google Photos will show the scanned photos in-order year-by-year (or year-month by year-month).

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 photo files from one year (or year-month)
2. Make a list of the names of those photo files
3. Add a column of year (or year-month) dates to the list
4. Add the dates and times from the list to the photo files
5. Upload the photo files to Google Photos

The Steps in laborious detail:

1. Make working copies of photo files from one year (or year-month)

• Make a working folder on your computer.
• Copy photo files from one year (or year-month) into the working folder.

2. 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
  

3. Add a column of year (or year-month) dates 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, which we can interpret as the year 1956 or January 1956 —

  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.
• Close Notepad.

4. 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.

5. 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:

When there are hundreds or thousands of photos that need dates, and the scanned photos are already organized into single year (or year-month) folders, we can quickly and easily add a date to the photo files so at-least Google Photos will show the scanned photos in-order year-by-year.