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Forum Discussion

Kar's avatar
Kar
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Can I keep the creation/ modification dates on my photos when I upload to Dropbox?

I'm uploading photos from my memory card to Dropbox without transferring to my computer first.  I have years of photo cards that I am uploading to be able to better organize.

I can see the files on my card reader in my window folders with the correct dates for each photo , however when I copy these photos to drop box, all files become today's date vs the date the photo file was created/last modified.  Is there any way to manage this?

I'm wondering if drop box may have been a poor choice for what I'm trying to do.  Appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
    Hey Kar, thanks for checking in on our Forum, I’d happily send you some tips that could be useful & we’ll take it from there!
     
    Based on your description, it seems that you’re uploading your files from your memory card to Dropbox using the Upload option on the web (or you’ve dragged & dropped them on your browser), as this should reset any previous metadata associated with your photos. 
     
    At the moment (& depending on your needs) you may have a look at the following options to work around this behavior: 
     
    I hope that this brings a bit more clarity to your inquiry & please do let me know here if you have more questions about any of the above. Happy Monday! 
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hey Kar, thanks for checking in on our Forum, I’d happily send you some tips that could be useful & we’ll take it from there!
     
    Based on your description, it seems that you’re uploading your files from your memory card to Dropbox using the Upload option on the web (or you’ve dragged & dropped them on your browser), as this should reset any previous metadata associated with your photos. 
     
    At the moment (& depending on your needs) you may have a look at the following options to work around this behavior: 
     
    I hope that this brings a bit more clarity to your inquiry & please do let me know here if you have more questions about any of the above. Happy Monday! 
    • samtastik's avatar
      samtastik
      New member | Level 2
      6 years ago

      Hi!  I have the same problem as Kar.  I have tried uploading old videos from my desktop using the dropbox desktop app and the "Date Modofied" field on ALL of them has been reset to the date of upload and NONE of the metadata was retained as far as I can tell.   It is a real shame since I unfortunately deleted the original files after uploading to dropbox. I would recommend NOT deleting the original files until you have verified that you have retained original dates, if it is even possible.  I'm glad I only uploaded around 20 videos before I realized that information appeared to be lost but it's a real bummer since the whole point of using dropbox was to open up space on my hard drive and now I feel like I still can't delete the files even after they have been uploaded.

      • Jane's avatar
        Jane
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        6 years ago
        Hey there (samtastik), I just ran a test on my end & I can confirm that the creation dates should be preserved. As I’d like to investigate what could’ve gone wrong in this case having all our tools available, I’ve made sure to reach out to you directly via email gathering all the details you’ve included on this discussion. 
         
        Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my message & I’ll make sure to promptly get back in touch with you asap. I’ll be awaiting your next reply!

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