Incorrect date modified on Mac folders

Could you explain why you think that an unrelated file will have its modification dates changed when the contents of some different file is modified? Sure, if the unrelated file itself is modified, then the modification date will change. But if other files are modified—without requiring a change to the file you are looking at—then the modification dates on the unrelated file will not change. the world you are seemingly envisioning here would mean every directory all the way back to the root directory would get modified on any file changes, and that’s… inefficient.

darcor wrote:

I saw this post here: incorrect "date modified" information fol… - Apple Community

The "Apple recommended" answer does not actually answer the question though.

I currently have a folder (let's call it "A"). The date modified on that folder says August 3, 2021. However, inside that same folder there is a file with a date modified of December 4, 2022. This means that the contents of that folder had to be modified at least as recently as December 4, 2022, but the date modified for the folder does not reflect this. This happens quite often for me. The contents of folders often have "dates modified" which are more recent than the "date modified" of the folder itself, which seems counter-intuitive.

The strange thing is that I can't reproduce this problem. If I add a file to a folder, add a sub-folder, modify a file within a folder, or modify a sub-folder, then the date modified updates as expected. But it seems that sometimes (for some reason) the date modified does not update correctly. Is this a bug?

Does anyone else have this problem? Can they reproduce it?

Thanks

You can try creating a new folder, move the content to the new folder and compare your results going forward.

If it is Universal issue— you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/get-macos-updates-mchlpx1065/mac