{"id":75163,"date":"2024-05-13T13:22:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T07:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=75163"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:48:07","slug":"rename-photos-date-taken-prefix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-photos-date-taken-prefix\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Rename Photos to &#8220;Date Taken&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you take a picture using your digital camera or smartphone, metadata is stored inside the photo files. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/jpg-metadata-not-displayed-in-file-explorer\/\">EXIF or metadata<\/a> can include information such as the resolution, camera settings, the date the picture was taken, and even the GPS coordinates.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Many users want to rename the photo files by prefixing &#8220;Date Taken.&#8221; The Bulk Rename Utility can accomplish this.<\/p>\n<h2>Rename Photos to &#8220;Date Taken&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bulk Rename Utility<\/a>, install it, and run it.<\/p>\n<p>From the Renaming Options menu, click <strong>ID3 \/ Exif Data \/ File Properties<\/strong>, and enable &#8220;<strong>Extract Exif Data (Photos)<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75166\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-renaming-options-extract-exif.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - extract exif (photos)\" width=\"513\" height=\"171\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Refresh the screen when prompted.<\/p>\n<p>In the left navigation pane, select the folder with the files you want to rename.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75167\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-left-nav-pane.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - navigation pane\" width=\"340\" height=\"253\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the right pane, select the files which you want to rename.<\/p>\n<p>With the <strong>Auto-Date<\/strong> option, you can add the date taken in a format of your choice to the file names of your photos.<\/p>\n<p>Using the Auto-Date (8) section:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use <strong>Mode<\/strong> to add the date taken at the end (Suffix) or beginning (Prefix) of a file name.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Use <strong>Type<\/strong> to choose from the date of Creation (of the file), the date the file was Modified or Accessed, or the date the photo was taken. Options ending in (Curr.) will use the current date when renaming. Options ending in (New) will require you to find the menu at the top of the window and select Options &gt; Timestamp to set new values.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Use <strong>Fmt<\/strong> to specify how you want the date formatted (Day, Month, Year, etc.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Use <strong>Sep.<\/strong> to add characters that will separate the date from the rest of the file name.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Enable the checkbox for <strong>Cent.<\/strong> to include the century in the year. For example, the year looks like <strong>2024<\/strong> instead of just <strong>24<\/strong> if you enable the <strong>Cent.<\/strong> option.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Example 1: Prefix Date Taken to photos<\/h3>\n<p>In this screenshot, I&#8217;ve used the Custom option.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75165\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-autodate-settings.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - autodate settings\" width=\"165\" height=\"201\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Set the Mode to &#8220;Prefix&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Set the Type to &#8220;Taken (Original)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Set Fmt to &#8220;Custom&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the Custom format I used:<\/p>\n<pre><strong>%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S~<\/strong><\/pre>\n<p><em>If you don&#8217;t want the separators and the tilde symbol, use:<\/em><\/p>\n<pre><strong>%Y%m%d%H%M%S<\/strong><\/pre>\n<p><em>You can enter other text in the filename, and the symbols above will be substituted with the values. So, you could enter a custom value of &#8220;<code><strong>Created on %a, %d %B, %Y<\/strong><\/code>&#8221; to get &#8220;Created on Tuesday, 13th May, 2024&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After choosing the custom date format, select the files you wish to rename using the above criteria. Click &#8216;Preview&#8217; to review the changes, and then &#8216;Rename.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-preview-rename-1.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - rename preview\" width=\"545\" height=\"256\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Example 2: Rename photos to Date Taken<\/h3>\n<p>In this example, we rename the photos to &#8220;date taken&#8221; instead of prefixing the date taken. That is, we remove the original name of the files and replace it with the date taken. For example, the file names in this folder are like DSCxxxxx.JPG. I need to change the file name to data taken and remove the original name completely.<\/p>\n<p>In the <strong>Name (2)<\/strong> section, select &#8220;<strong>Remove<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-name-remove.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - remove original name\" width=\"193\" height=\"95\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This removes the original file name.<\/p>\n<p>Then use the <strong>Auto Date (8)<\/strong>\u00a0section as before:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75165\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-autodate-settings.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - autodate settings\" width=\"165\" height=\"201\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Set the Mode to &#8220;Prefix&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Set the Type to &#8220;Taken (Original)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Set Fmt to &#8220;Custom&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the Custom format I used:<\/p>\n<pre><strong>%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S<\/strong><\/pre>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what the preview looks like:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-75169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-preview-rename-2.png\" alt=\"bulk rename utility - rename preview\" width=\"545\" height=\"256\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Custom Date Formats<\/h3>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Code<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Meaning<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%a<\/td>\n<td>Abbreviated weekday name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%A<\/td>\n<td>Full Weekday name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%b<\/td>\n<td>Abbreviated month name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%B<\/td>\n<td>Full month name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%d<\/td>\n<td>Day of Month (01-31)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%H<\/td>\n<td>Hour in 24-hour format (00-23)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%I<\/td>\n<td>Hour in 12-hour format (01-12)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%j<\/td>\n<td>Day of Year (01-366)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%m<\/td>\n<td>Month number (01-12)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%M<\/td>\n<td>Minute (00-59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%p<\/td>\n<td>AM\/PM Indicator<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%S<\/td>\n<td>Seconds (00-59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%U<\/td>\n<td>Week number of year (00-53), with Sunday as the first day of the week.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%w<\/td>\n<td>Weekday (0-6), with Sunday=0.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%W<\/td>\n<td>Week number of year (00-53), with Monday as the first day of the week.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%y<\/td>\n<td>Year, with no century indicator (00-99)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%Y<\/td>\n<td>Year, with century indicator (e.g., 2024)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%z<\/td>\n<td>Time zone name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>%%<\/td>\n<td>Percentage sign<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-accessed-modified-created-file-date-timestamp-windows\/\">How to Change File Date or Timestamp in Windows<\/a><\/div>\n<h3>Other methods to rename photos to data taken<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/us.digicamsoft.com\/softnamexif.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Namexif: Rename Photos or Videos to EXIF date<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancedrenamer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advanced Renamer &#8211; Batch renaming utility for files and folders<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kittell.net\/code\/powershell-rename-pictures-image\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PowerShell \u2013 Rename Pictures to Image Taken \u2013 David Kittell<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gist.github.com\/dkittell\/746e69967a7f4d0f0c52\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PowerShell \u2013 Rename Pictures to Image Taken Date\/Time with Dimensions<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The above script is based on Magnus Ringkj\u00f8b&#8217;s (TechNet Scriptcenter) original script.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you take a picture using your digital camera or smartphone, metadata is stored inside the photo files. The EXIF or metadata can include information such as the resolution, camera settings, the date the picture was taken, and even the GPS coordinates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utilities","category-windows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41413,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/jpg-metadata-not-displayed-in-file-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] JPG Metadata not displayed in File Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"File Explorer shows the EXIF information (e.g., the Camera model, Dimensions, etc.,) in the Details pane. However, on some systems, the metadata may appear completely empty. On some systems, if you rename the JPG file to JPEG, JPE, or JFIF, the EXIF data shows up correctly. The result is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"jpg metadata empty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/jpg-exif-empty-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/jpg-exif-empty-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/jpg-exif-empty-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25476,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-windows-photo-viewer-cant-display-this-picture-no-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":1},"title":"[Fix] Error &#8220;Windows Photo Viewer can&#8217;t display this picture&#8221;","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to preview an image file (JPEG\/PNG) using Windows Photo Viewer, the preview would be blank and the following error message is displayed: Windows Photo Viewer can't display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer. Close some programs that you aren't using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"exiftool remove icc_profile","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/exiftoolgui-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/exiftoolgui-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/exiftoolgui-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/exiftoolgui-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10584,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-accessed-modified-created-file-date-timestamp-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":2},"title":"How to Change File Date or Timestamp in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows maintains three different date\/timestamps for every file and folder. They are \"Date Created,\" \"Date Modified,\" and \"Date Accessed.\" You may have to change the modified, created, or last accessed timestamp of a file or folder in some situations. For instance, I had to change the timestamp of some files\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"attributes changer change file timestamp date","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/change-timestamp-attribute-changer-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27947,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cant-rename-files-upper-lowercase-usb-drives\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":3},"title":"Why Can&#8217;t I Rename Files to Upper or Lowercase on USB Drives","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a user query where they're unable to change the file name extension to lowercase from uppercase (or the other way) on external drives. For instance, the command-line to bulk change the extension (ren *.WAV\u00a0 *.wav) may work on the system drive but not on an external drive. Query: My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"usb flash drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/usb-flash-disk.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1668,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/sort-by-date-modified-folders-on-top\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":4},"title":"How to Sort by Date Modified (Descending) With Folders On Top?","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In any version of Windows, when you sort items in a folder in descending order by Date Modified column, folders move to the bottom, and files go to the top. However, users may want to sort folders separately and have them remain at the top and files below. For example,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/sort-reverse-folder-top-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/sort-reverse-folder-top-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/sort-reverse-folder-top-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4725,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/quickly-rename-multiple-files-consecutively-using-tab-key\/","url_meta":{"origin":75163,"position":5},"title":"Quickly Rename Multiple Files Consecutively using Tab key","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Want to quickly rename a set of files in a folder consecutively without using F2 (Rename) or ENTER keys every time? Here is a couple of neat tricks for you. Let's say you have a set of files in a folder and you want to rename them all. What most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rename multiple files using tab","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rename-files-1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rename-files-1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rename-files-1.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}