Change timestamp doesn't (always) work

by CameronD (Posted Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:29 am)

B.Douille wrote:@CamronD,

I have been using this assignment of times a lot lately, but because I am also writing captions and keywords, the file mod times get updated anyway. So I have not noticed that the time adjustment by itself does not do it.

Maybe one of the options "Keep original date/time" is not ticked (I think it is by default). In the parameters you can find these under General > File operations tab

I always have those options unticked - it's the first thing I check on a new installation.


This brings up an interesting issue, where the software is getting somewhat contradictory instructions.

My preferences are set tonot keep original date/time for Embedded metadata change. This is quite clear.

The Exif date/time values are embedded metadata and so, by my preferences, the filesystem metadata File: last modified date should be automatically updated if I change any exif values.
The conflict is that, in the dialog box where I have, for example, ticked "EXIF: Date Taken" and assigned a value, there is another checkbox labelled "File: Modified Date", which is not ticked. Unfortunately, the operation of this checkbox has two options, neither of which is correct:

1. ticked: assign the same date taken (in my current cases, early in the 20th century) to be the file modified date. This is obviously wrong.
2. unticked: when the image metadata is written and the file modified date is automatically updated by the operating system, then the program actively overrides this by reinstating the previous value

This problem comes from having File and Exif metadata in the same dialogue.

Possible options for improvement:

• split the dialog into separate windows for file and exif metadata. This will not suit anybody who wants to assign both types to one value. I never work like that, but some users might.
• Add an option, perhaps near "create exif metadata if needed" and label it "Update File modify date if exif metadata written".
  
  • This should by default be ticked or not according to the user preference for keep original date/time for Embedded metadata change.
    
  • It could be deactivated if the "File: Modified date" is checked.
    

Even though I wrote about this as part of the earlier bug report, is it a separate issue and you might like to move this to a separate thread as a request for enhancement.

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