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Forum Discussion
Why does DropBox rename photos based on modification date rather than creation date?
Previously, DropBox renamed camera uploads based on the photos creation date (EXIF: Date/Time Original). This makes sense because you want the photos to be name-sorted based on when they were taken. ...
Jay
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi Michael N.28, thanks for contacting us!
Are you modifying the images in your camera roll at a later date, or adding filters to them?
Are these normal photos, or Live Photos?
Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!
Are you modifying the images in your camera roll at a later date, or adding filters to them?
Are these normal photos, or Live Photos?
Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!
The images are modified on the camera roll.
These are normal photos.
I often edit photos before uploading via DropBox. (I do the upload manually since giving DropBox access to location services all the time ended up being a huge battery hog.)
To the best of my recollection, DropBox used to rename the photos based on creation date. But recently I began to notice that photos edited on the phone were out of creation date order in the Camera Uploads directory. The assigned name was the modification date.
Here's an example. This photo was edited on the camera.
EXIF: Create Date: 2021:10:05 09:00:04
EXIF: File Modification Date/Time: 2021:10:05 18:05:22+07:00
Name Assigned by DropBox Camera Uploads: 2021-10-05 18.05.22.heic
As you can see, the assigned name is nine hours later than the creation date.
What I've done now to "fix" this is write a shell script that includes the following exiftool statement which renames the files based on create date:
exiftool -d '%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S%%-03.c.%%e' '-filename<CreateDate' ~/Dropbox/Camera\ Uploads
I shouldn't have to do that.
- JayJust to clarify, is the original photo uploaded automatically to Dropbox, and then a second copy is uploaded, or is the original image overwritten, or never uploaded in the first place?
Each image is uploaded only once. That is, when I hit the "Photos" button in the DropBox iOS app. There is no automatic upload.
If I have edited the image before uploading, then DropBox names it using the file modification date.
If I have not edited the image before uploading, then the creation date is the same as the modification date. I'm assuming that DropBox always uses the file modification date. I think that's the wrong thing to do.
DropBox should rename photos using the EXIF CreateDate or, if there is no EXIF data (like a screenshot or other non-camera image) then DropBox should use the file creation date.
Here's an example. In this case DropBox set the file name to: 2021-10-06 14.14.19.heic
If you look at the EXIF date data below, you will see that the creation date is: 2021:10:06 14:13:39
I edited the file on the iPhone using the Photos app at: 2021:10:06 14:14:19+07:00. That's the date DropBox used to rename the file.
What follows is the date info from the EXIF file:
MrMuscle:Camera Uploads mnewman$ exiftool "/Users/mnewman/Dropbox/Camera
Uploads/2021-10-06 14.14.19.heic" | grep "Date"
File Modification Date/Time : 2021:10:06 14:14:19+07:00
File Access Date/Time : 2021:10:06 17:21:26+07:00
File Inode Change Date/Time : 2021:10:06 17:21:24+07:00
Date/Time Original : 2021:10:06 14:13:39
Create Date : 2021:10:06 14:13:39
Modify Date : 2021:10:06 14:13:39
Date Created : 2021:10:06 14:13:39
