Organising files

Sorting photos by date

Updated 2026-07-31 · 4 min read

A folder of ten thousand undated images becomes navigable the moment it is filed by when they were taken.

By the date they were taken (exiftool)

The reliable way — reads EXIF, not filesystem dates:

brew install exiftool
exiftool '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' -d "%Y/%Y-%m" -r ~/Pictures/Unsorted

That moves every image into 2026/2026-07/ folders based on when the shot was taken. -r recurses; the date format string controls the folder scheme.

Test first without moving anything — copy instead of move, into a new tree:

exiftool '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' -d "~/Sorted/%Y/%Y-%m" -o . -r ~/Pictures/Unsorted

Renaming as you file

Combine filing with a sensible name:

exiftool '-FileName<DateTimeOriginal' -d "%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S%%-c.%%e" -r ~/Pictures/Unsorted

Produces 2026-07-31_143022.jpg, collision-safe, chronologically sortable.

Images with no EXIF

Screenshots, downloads and scans may lack a taken-date. exiftool can fall back to file modification time:

exiftool '-Directory<FileModifyDate' -d "%Y/%Y-%m" -r --ext jpg ~/Pictures/NoExif

Use -if 'not $DateTimeOriginal' to target only those.

The fix-the-clock case

Camera clock was wrong? Shift every date by an offset before filing:

exiftool "-AllDates+=0:0:0 2:0:0" -r ~/Pictures/Trip     # add 2 hours

Why not just use Photos

Photos organises beautifully *inside itself* — but the files stay UUID-named in a package. Filing on the filesystem keeps images as findable, portable, dated files, which is the right choice if you want them to outlive any one app. The two approaches suit different people; neither is wrong.

Common questions

How do I sort photos into folders by date taken?

exiftool: exiftool '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' -d "%Y/%Y-%m" -r folder files them by EXIF capture date.

What if my photos have no EXIF date?

Fall back to file modification date with exiftool's FileModifyDate, or fix a wrong camera clock with an AllDates offset first.