Copy link to clipboard
Copied
This problem has started recently, but is causing a major problem. I have an iPhone X and am trying to import photos using Elements 18. It now imports to a folder, who's name is based on Date Modified, not Date Taken. I get 5000 photos imported into folder 20200527. Not sure why the camera thinks they were all modified on that date? Anyhow these photos are duplicates of ones that I have previously imported. I wish Elements was using Date Taken to create the folder, but it is not. Any help would be appreciated.
I just tried importing using Windows Explorer and it works as expected, so the problem is with Elements.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I agree there is a problem (but I'm not sure it's totally Adobe's fault). It is somewhat random.
What settings do you have on your iPhone for Camera>Format (High Efficiency or Most Compatible)?
And what settings do you have for Photos>Transfer to Mac or PC (Automatic or Keep Originals)?
If you format your photos/videos with High Efficiency and transfer with Automatic settings, a new copy of the file is created on your computer and the Date Taken setting seems to be lost. I think that's why you have 5,000 photos placed into a single folder. Was that the date of the transfer to your computer?
I have sometimes found that the correct Date Taken is shown in the images metadata (viewed in the Organizer's Properties panel) and have been able to move the image into the correct Date Taken folder. But not always.
I recently bought a new iPhone and moved the contents of my old phone to the new one. When transferring from the new phone, the date of the phone transfer became the date taken. There are also other problems when files are transferred to your phone via other apps.
In short, there is no consistency between any software in what fields are used to establish the photo's "date."
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
iPhone Settings:
Camera>Format - High Efficiency
Photos>Transfer to Mac or PC - Originals
So, when I use Organizer to transfer the photos from my iPhone to the computer, it now creates the Folder name using the date of the Date Modified field, not Date Taken (these photos have been imported to Organizer previously into the correct folders, hence the duplicates, but in different folders). Organizer does not use the date of the downloading for folder names. I have no idea why I have more than 5000 photos on my camera with the same Date Modified date. The Date Taken field is correct (see previous attachment). When I use Window Explorer (not Organizer) to import those photos from my iPhone, Windows uses the Date Taken field to group these same photos.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
This is still a problem even with Photoshop 2021.
When importing to a Windows 10 PC, the created folder is still the modification date, not the creation date.
At the VERY least, Adobe should give the option to choose.
As bealdb mentioned, this functionality changed around the time of Photoshop 2018.
I also have (at least) hundreds of duplicate photos on my PC because Photoshop used the wrong date for the folder name when importing.
Is anyone aware of Adobe fixing this?
I've heard nothing.
Thanks.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
AFAIK, nothing has been changed with respect to this date problem with imports from iPhones. However, having said that, I haven't noticed it with respect to any recent imports from my iPhone X.
The Date Taken information is still available in the file's metadata and can be accessed from the Info panel. And as far as I recall, the correct Date Taken data is displayed in the Media grid. Since you have a recent experience with the problem, please give us as much detail as you can about your experience, and I will bring it up again with Adobe. I would need at least the following information:
Thanks for any information you can provide.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Greg, I'm having the same problem, here are my answers to the questions you posed earlier:
I now have a time-consuming process of downloading all my photos, then going back and manually moving them on the PC to a folder with the correct date. If I didn't already have so many years invested in tagging / otherwise organizing my photos in PE, I would be moving to a different product. I've also intermittently had problems liks some have mentioned with disconnects partway through the process; seems to be worse when I have a lot of photos on my phone so I end up trying to keep my phone close to empty of photos.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
@scmgjm, thanks for your responses to my questions. But I am a little confused. The OP created this discussion because he was using the Organizer to import files from his iPhone. Since the problem was with the folder date for the imported files, I am assuming the import was via the Adobe Photo Downloader which creates the OS folders with the wrong dates. If you already imported the files to your computer, it would be the program/app that you used for the import that would create the wrong date of the folder.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Sorry for the long gap in response.
The import program is always the Adobe Photoshop Organizer.
I launch Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 (same problem in old revisions) on Windows 10 Home.
Then I choose 'Organizer'.
'Import from Camera or card reader ' using a USB to lightning cable.
Then I choose my iphone.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
same issue. Importing from a iphone 12 pro and the media is getting imported into folders that are not the date taken, but the date modified. This ruins then my catalogue because i'll have photos and videos from the same day separated by another day's media.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Does anyone know if this problem is fixed in Elements 2021? I hate to pay for an upgrade that doesn''t fix this incredibly annoying problem.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
@bealbd Elements has just released version 2022. As far as I know nothing has changed with respect to this issue.
I suggest you download the free 30 day trial and see for yourself whether the upgrade is worth it.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
FWIW, Elements 2022 does not fix this problem. This is really hard to understand that Adobe hasn't fixed this problem. I am going to turn off High Efficiency and see if this helps. I am pretty certain that this will not fix the problem with it downloading to same 5000 pictures, everytime I do a transfer 😞
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thanks for saving me the upgrade cost. This is very frustrating. The other issue I have is the organizer will hang and lose connection during the import. Usually hangs on one file. This has been going on for far too long, and I refuse to upgrade until resolved, and even looking for other alternatives to PE
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I also have the problem where the Adobe Organizer import hangs after importing SOME of the files on my iPhone8. I restart Adobe Organizer (and sometimes reboot my PC) and it MIGHT import a few more.
If I copy from iPhone to my PC using Windows copy command, I do not have this problem.
It does seem to be something between Adobe and iPhone.
I can also import hundreds of pictures from my old Canon camera using Adobe Organizer, and that seems to work OK. No problem with dates and no hangs.
I am trying a new process of first copying to my PC, and then importing into AO from the PC folder into organizer. I haven't quite figured out if that is working better or not with the dates.
I kind of tired of fooling with it.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Adobe hasn't fixed this in 2023 PSE either. Like a sucker, I hoped it would have been resolved. But alas, it is not. Very frustrating. That, and the inability to import iphone video without crashing will prevent me from upgrading in the future whilst looking for an alternative program.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
@JohnBengtson, you haven't told us which version of Elements you are using. But as far as I know, nothing has changed with respect to this random problem.
I don't know whether this will work, but you can try copying the files from your iPhone to a USB thumb drive (using your OS such as File Explorer on Windows). Then use the Adobe Photo Downloader to Import>From Camera or Card Reader and copy the files to your computer. If you decide to try this suggestion, please let us know if it works.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Greg,
Sorry I missed your response, I'm using PSE 2020.
I tried your suggestion of using File Explorer to copy files from my now-new iPhone 14 to a thumb drive, and it works for small sets of files (like 10-20), but if I try to copy more files than that it'll freeze and stop. So I pretty much never get all the files, and I'm not willing to do multiple rounds of this; way too much work for what should just work. Anyway, looks like this is more an iPhone vs. Windows issue since I can't even reliably copy files from my iPhone using basic Windows tools.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
For years I organized my photos on a pc using Lightroom. It was very easy to import and organize photos according to date taken and all of my photos are organized that way. Recently I decided to switch to a MacPro and Lightroom is no longer available without a subscription so it was reccommended that I use PSE. PSE 2023 still does not make it possible to import and organize photos according to date taken. I really hope that this is changed soon. At this point I am going to use my old computer to organize my photos! PSE is pretty useless to me and I would not have purchased it if I had known...
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
@Oliag000 said: PSE 2023 still does not make it possible to import and organize photos according to date taken.
You are mistaken. More than 99% of my photos have been imported and organized by date taken (and my catalog has about 250k files). Occassionally, imported files (in my case, from iPhones) are given the wrong display date and are sometimes placed into the wrong date-taken folder. However the correct date taken is always available and can be used to correct the display or holding folder.
You haven't given us any details of your workflow, so it is difficult to tell where the problem lies. If you are using Import>From Camera or Card Reader, the dialog includes an option to create a sub-folder with a date taken name:
This article explains how Elements uses dates.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
That is exactly the dialog that I am looking for when trying to upload iphone photos. I am new to the Mac so that may be my problem. If I try to upload using upload from camera or card reader the display states that there are no new photos to upload. I think the Mac assumes it is uploaded already. If I then try to upload or organize from Import using files using Photo files I do not get the dialog box with the option to create subfolders according to date taken. Am I missing something?