Convert Image preserve file date

Help & Support
1

I'd like to repeat megosu's request for the Convert Image dialog to have checkboxes for preserving create and last modified dates, like it does for aspect ratio now.

The use case is my wife's camera, which takes every shot at 12 megapixels or whatever. For the occasional shot we'd want that. For the rest, a tenth of the disk space is all they deserve. But after resizing, they all have the same file date. The photos were taken at all different dates and I don't want the conversion to disturb that.

The alternative, that my wife predict how much detail we'll want in each shot, and adjust the camera settings before taking it, is not happening.

2

Turn off Preferences / File Operations / Metadata / Update last modified file dates when setting metadata inside files, although you might want to use the EXIF Date Taken field inside the files instead of the file dates either way.

3

It was always off. This is not metadata anyway, I really am replacing the file with a smaller file.

4

Change the function you're using (e.g. in the context menu) to add the PRESERVEDATE option to the command line.

E.g. if the current function is Image CONVERT HERE REPLACE change it to Image CONVERT HERE REPLACE PRESERVEDATE.

5

Um, need help with that. The function is right-click a jpg in a lister and select Convert Image. Where is the command for that?

6

I found
Settings > Customize Toolbars > Commands > Tools > Convert Images
but I can't right-click and edit it (like my user-defined commands)
Am I close?

7

Settings > File Types > File Type Groups > Images > Context Menu

8

Yup thanks! Man this dopus is deep, and that's why I love it. Searching prefs for these keywords turned up nothing. So many places to look. And now I understand the megosu conversation better too.

9

@Jon, I think @BobL’s initial request to be able to set “preserve file date” also in the “Convert Image dialog” would still be a helpful feature (in addition to being able to set it when using the Image Convert command directly). Thanks.

Related: Picture resize - preserve files date

10

You can configure it in Preferences.

11

You can configure the extra checkbox in the Image Conversion dialog, like under the Resize option? I can’t find that in preferences.

12

BobL,

I recommend you ignore File /System Created and Modified Dates. So many things can change those dates. There are not intended to represent the PHOTO date, just the file date.

Pay attention to the Date Taken column instead. If photos have camera metadata, and the camera date was set correctly, Date Taken will be accurate.

13

MegMac, yes that’s why I added a toolbar button to run a perl script that sets the file dates from the jpg EXIF data. Because the file dates show up in places I can’t easily ignore.

14

OK, as long as you know that the file dates can change for various reasons outside of DOpus.

15

We'll add an option to the dialog in the next beta.

16

@BobL, I just wanted to add that I think this native DOpus command might do the same as your Perl script: SetAttr MODIFIED=taken CREATED=taken. (I have configured it as an entry in the context menu for the image files via Settings / File Types / Images / Commands / Context Menu.)

17

dpuser441, Brilliant! Yes it does, and fast! In my case it was Settings > File Types... > File Type Groups > Images > Edit > Context Menu > New...