Batch Sort by Date Photo Taken

[rdn]

I use Ifanview a lot in putting together photos from different cameras. I use Batch rename a lot but it would be helpful to have a sort by "Date Picture Taken" so that they can be melded together in one Slideshow where time is important.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Have you tried using thumbnails, sort by date taken (exif), and then starting a batch operation with the selected thumbnails?

[rdn]

Yes I sort by date picture taken in Explorer, but the window in Irfanview that opens in Batch Rename is by file name. When pictures are added to the working window they can then be sorted by Name or File Date etc. but not by Date The Picture is taken. It is a very time consuming and error making to do by hand. I want the file name to end up representing the order in which the pictures were taken so that in a slide show they are in time order. I am working at the moment with 600 photos from 4 different cameras by different people to make a series of before, during and after flood photos in a slideshow. I use Irfanview to make the transportable slideshow.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Yes I sort by date picture taken in Explorer.

I said nothing about the sort order in Windows Explorer. I meant the thumbnail viewer in IrfanView. You can sort this view by Exif date. If you do that and load the selected thumbs in the batch dialogue, does it still sort by filename? I cannot check as I don't have a camera or files with Exif date.

[rdn]

I said nothing about the sort order in Windows Explorer. I meant the thumbnail viewer in IrfanView. You can sort this view by Exif date. If you do that and load the selected thumbs in the batch dialogue, does it still sort by filename? I cannot check as I don't have a camera or files with Exif date.

Thanks for your comment. I had not used the Irfan Thumbnail view. This works well for viewing in irfan but is no help to me in Batch Rename. When I then click on one of the thumbnails and select Batch Rename the window that opens to select files it still shows files in filename order. When you select files to include in the rename there are sort options. However these do not include a sort in "Date picture taken (i.e.Exif order)".

[cwb3106]

There are two ways to do it ... both easy, but not obvious.

[Method 1] If you select files in the thumbnail view before starting the batch dialog, the files you select will be loaded into the Input Files box in the order they appear in the thumbnail view. There is a select all option.

[Method 2] The Look in box is actually a version of Windows Explorer. If you right click on a column heading, you'll get a new dialog box that lets you choose which columns to display. In this box, click on More... and select Date taken. Once that column is added to the window, you can sort on it. You can also rearrange the order of the columns ... you might want the Date taken column to be first or second.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

There are two ways to do it ... both easy, but not obvious.

Thanks for that. I thought that method 1 would work, but didn't know about method 2. That offers even more options.

I have updated my IrfanView Tutorials page on batch operations to include both of the methods for Sorting Files for Batch Operations

Let me know if I missed anything important or got something wrong.

[Mij]

There is also a method 3 which is to sort the files in Windows Explorer, highlight them all, left click on the first and drag and drop them directly into the file list box of the Batch dialog. Since the Batch dialog cannot be minimized once opened, you need to launch Windows Explorer first and bring it to the front when you want it by clicking its icon on the taskbar, or you can launch Explorer by pressing Windows key+E if need be.

All 3 of these methods allow you to sort the images in individual folders into date taken order and then enter them one folder at a time into the list box, but AFAIK none of them will sort images across multiple folders from several cameras into a single date taken order.
Is that what you were hoping to do, rdn?

[Mij]

Thanks for that. I thought that method 1 would work, but didn't know about method 2.
Let me know if I missed anything important or got something wrong.

What both you and cwb3106 forgot to mention was that you cannot use the Add all button to transfer to the file list box if you want them to remain in the order you selected in Look In. The files will be listed in alphabetical order again when you do so even if you have requested in the Sort files button dialog that they should not be re-sorted.
Instead you need to scroll down to the last image in the Look In box and click on it. Then scroll back up to the top, hold down the shift key and click on the first image in the box. Now press the Add button (not Add all) and the file names will be transferred in the correct order.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

What both you and cwb3106 forgot to mention was that you cannot use the Add all button to transfer to the file list box if you want them to remain in the order you selected in Look In.

Thanks. Updated the screen shot and the tutorial to include that.

[rdn]

What a great set of replys I got to my initial query! Thank you all. I particularly liked the way of pasting directly from Explorer. This allows all kind of ways of selecting.

[rdn]

This is a good reminder that Explorer seems to transfer a selection of files with the last first. But if you select from the bottom up ot gets it correct.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I think its fair to say that this feature already exists, so thread moved to support.