File dates vs. Exif dates

File dates and exif dates are two different things. They are independent. Whereas exif dates live inside the file, file dates live outside the file on the disk/operating system level. This often leads to confusion since for example Finder shows file dates, not exif dates.

However, Exif Editor can update file dates when it saves files. In the Settings window, there are two independent settings: Change file create time on save to: and Change file modify time on save to:. Each of them can be set to one of the following:

• Exif create date value / Exif modify date value – the file creation date is set to the EXIF Create Date tag, and the file modification date is set to the EXIF Modify Date tag. When the tag is missing or is not a valid date, Exif Editor leaves the file date to the operating system, the same as with Current time.

• Don't change – the file date stays as it was before saving.

• Current time – Exif Editor does not touch the date and lets the operating system do what it normally does when a file is saved, which usually means setting the modification date to the current time.

By default, both file dates are set to the EXIF date values. The settings also apply when you remove metadata.