Photo management

I recently moved away from iPhoto, exported my library with Phoshare, and put it into a file system. I then used Hazel to move from my photo import folder, and sort them into folders based on their date created. This worked fine, with everything dropping into year, and then month folders.

So now I expect that when I drop a new photo into my import folder, it should sort it straight into the new library under year and month.

However, when I added a new set of photos, instead of sorting into the existing folders, it created an alternate numbered folder.

Do I need to alter my rule to now work for new additions to the library, rather than the initial rule for creation of the library?

One other issue I have is that for some photos the DATE CREATED is actually different to the IMAGE DATE as shown in the metadata, when viewed in Lyn. So I've got photos taken in 04, appearing in 07. Can I use Hazel to fix this, or do I need to do some metadata editing?

Can't say without seeing your rule. In general, the "Sort into subfolders" action uses existing folders, only creating them when they don't exist.

The image taken date is problematic. Note that this is different than the date created for the file. For instance, if you copy a file, the copy will have an updated date created.

Really, it's Apple's fault. Their Spotlight importer should be taking that data and using it as the "content created" date or somesuch. Instead, it seems like they ignore it. Since Hazel gets its data from Spotlight, there's not much that can be done on Hazel's end unless you want to write a script that will parse that data out.

Thanks for your reply.

My rule is:

If ALL of the following conditions are met for FILE OR FOLDER BEING MATCHED

KIND is IMAGE

MOVE to folder LIBRARY

SORT INTO SUBFOLDER with pattern DATE CREATED (2001)

SORY INTO SUBFOLDER with pattern DATE CREATED (12 DECEMBER)

Re metadata, I guess I need to get editing! Anyone recommend a good photo metadata editor?

What does the alternately numbered folder look like?

Also, you can combine those two "Sort into subfolder" actions into one. You can use the path separator (the right-pointing triangle) to separate the two "date created" tokens.

I just tried importing a photo, using the existing rule, and it created a folder called 000012.

Could it be something to do with the Options section where there's a IF FILE EXISTS - RENAME - REPLACE option? It has RENAME selected.

Those options could affect things on the move operation, but not the sort into subfolder. Also, I don't think Hazel would create a folder like 000012. I wonder if something else is interfering in this process. I suggest maybe trying the rule with only the move action, then adding each action in one by one to see what is causing the problem. You can also check the logs and trace that file. You'll see at which step it gets renamed.