microsoft
[Power Rename] Use Date Modified rather than Date Created
Description of the new feature / enhancement
Use Date Modified rather than Date Created
Even better, add an option and/or regex flag to specify which date is to be used.
Date Created is the least useful of all the likely available dates in my experience. It is usually the date the file was created on the current system, not the date the file was originally created or was last modified. The only date less useful would be date accessed.
There seem to be several similar requests which have been closed for no apparent reason.
Scenario when this would be used?
I currently use other third-party software to rename using date modified or date taken etc., but it would be nice to be able to do simple timestamp-based renaming in this tool. I find that date created is almost never useful - for example, for content copied from a mobile device to a computer date created is usually the date that the files were copied (almost never useful) whereas date modified will be the time the files were actually last modified (actually useful)
Some examples where this would be useful:
- Renaming photos taken on a phone and copied to my computer
- Renaming files created on any external non-Windows system and copied to my computer where the created date will be when they were copied (not useful) and the modified date will be when they were actually last modified (useful, and depending on the file, probably when it was actually created on its original system)
Supporting information
No response
Pinging this to say I'd appreciate the feature as well and the issue still is relevant.
One of my ideal use-cases for PowerRename is quickly bulk rename pictures copied off of a SD card. Cameras often have their own unchangeable naming rules which differ from brand to brand. When copying the files to your computer for safe-keeping, the "Date Created" field is updated (which mostly makes sense, from an OS file management perspective). When you then go to rename the files with PowerRename they all end up being named after the date of the backup instead of the capture date as intended.
Just found another issue which covers this problem in greater detail: #6151
Looks like this feature may be on the way, which is exciting!
Just chiming in to say I'd appreciate having Date Modified as an option, too.
I recently ended up using a different program to undertake a large and involved batch renaming job, rather than Power Rename, which is my usual go-to.
The job involved numerous digital camera photos copied from drive to drive over the years--think folder after folder of IMG_0001.JPG, IMG_0002.JPG, IMG_0003.JPG, [...]. Many of the Date Created fields referred to the last time the photos had been copied, while the Date Modified field still usually accurately indicated the range of time in which they were actually shot.
(Incidentally, while it's probably beyond the scope of Power Rename, it may be of interest to other readers: There are at least a few programs out there, including Bulk Rename Utility and EXIF Tool, which can also pull the "Date Taken" EXIF metadata from a photo, and use it to rename and modify filesystem timestamps as preferred.)
