Possible to batch process? Change the Modification and Creation dates of a file - Sonoma

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Level 1

13 points

Possible to batch process? Change the Modification and Creation dates of a file - Sonoma

I have about 100 files that were created with the wrong dates. I found these instructions

People seem to have a lot of trouble in the past changing these dates, but I've successfully used the base level touch -t in Terminal:

To change the creation date of a file in terminal paste in the below: (that will make the date 2001, january 15, 11:50pm - change it to the date you want - format is YYYYMMDDhhmm)

touch -t 200101152350

make sure there is a space after the last digit (this is where most people fail, inclucing myself until I realized it was missing.)

then drag the file into the terminal window so it populates it with the file path, then press return and it should work. Text should look like this before you press return:

touch -t 200101152350 /Users/g/Desktop/IMG_4074.jpg

in this post:

Change the Modification and Creation date… - Apple Community

Given the large number of files I'd like to change, does anyone know of a way to batch process multiple files to change their dates?

Thanks,

Myles

M1 Mac Studio/15.3.2

Posted on Mar 30, 2025 03:18 AM

Reply

Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

23,517 points

Mar 30, 2025 06:25 AM in response to mylesdevon

I use A Better Finder Attributes. Nice product & UI, does the job well. No terminal commands involved.

The author also makes A Better Finder Rename & Nifty File Lists, equally good apps.

Note: I use these products myself and have found them useful. I am not connected with the vendor nor do I receive any compensation for suggesting these products.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,124 points

Mar 30, 2025 06:06 AM in response to mylesdevon

How do you plan to introduce a different date/time value to each of these Pro Tools files as setting it to one value would wreck a date sort effort? Can you sort them by kind, or name instead?

I have been using various UNIX operating systems for literally decades and never found it necessary to alter the original creation/modification date of files.

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Answer 3

mylesdevon Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 31, 2025 05:08 AM in response to mylesdevon

Found a nice little app called File Date Modifier for cheap that takes care of this. It doesn't have find-and-replace capabilities, so you have to group files with the same date/year, but I had over a hundred of these when my system somehow was adding 8 to the year created/modified.

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,124 points

Mar 30, 2025 05:43 AM in response to mylesdevon

Is this a case of wanting to set the creation date of the image to its internal EXIF metadata DateTimeOriginal or another reason?

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Answer 5

mylesdevon Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 30, 2025 05:50 AM in response to VikingOSX

It's not an image file, should have been clearer, sorry. They're various Pro Tools files - some audio and some PT-specific - and the incorrect dates get in the way of sorting files.

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Answer 6

mylesdevon Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 30, 2025 06:36 AM in response to MartinR

Thanks - I’ve read about ABF a lot over the years, haven’t ever really needed it, maybe it’s time to ante up.

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