Several Exiftool commands I have used to edit/sort my pictures and improve metadata. Using this as my personal notepad, so to speak; might be useful for someone.
When it comes to mass editing lots of files, nothing beats the command line. ExifTool is great for this.
exiftool -G1 -a -s <filename>
exiftool -validate -warning -error -a FILE
Exiftool write all available date fields in EXIF data to first 15 characters of the file name (f. ex. useful for files that are named like 20200503-134310.mp4), for .movs and .mp4s:
exiftool -overwrite_original "-datetimeoriginal<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-createdate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-FileCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-FileModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-TrackCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-MediaCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-MetaDataDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-MediaModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-TrackModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" -ext m4v -ext mov -ext mp4 .
Exiftool rename file to CreateDate of images. This will change the file names to something like "20221028-150847.jpg".
exiftool "-filename <${CreateDate}.%e" -d %Y%m%d-%H%M%S .
Exiftool write all available date fields in EXIF data to first 15 characters of the file name (f. ex. useful for files that are named like 20200503-134317.jpg), for .jpgs:
exiftool -v -overwrite_original "-ImageUniqueID<NewGUID" "-Photoshop:IPTCDigest=" "-CurrentIPTCDigest=" "-XMP-xmp:CreatorTool=" "-datetimeoriginal<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-createdate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-MetaDataDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" -ext jpg .
You could also add the following to the above command to change the system file and date:
"-FileCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}" "-FileModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,15)}".
Beware that this might interfere with backup software or Onedrive.
Exiftool set all dates of PDF files to first 10 characters of the file name (f. ex. useful for files that are named like "2020-03-21 Text.pdf")
exiftool -v -overwrite_original "-FileModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-xmp:CreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-xmp:ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-pdf:CreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-pdf:ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-CreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-FileCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-FileAccessDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" -ext pdf .
Exiftool set all dates of JPG files to first 10 characters of the file name (f. ex. useful for files that are named like "2020-03-21 blabla.jpg")
exiftool -v -overwrite_original "-datetimeoriginal<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-createdate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-FileCreateDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-FileModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-MetaDataDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-ModifyDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" "-FileAccessDate<${filename;$_=substr($_,0,10)} 13:00:00" -ext jpg .
exiftool -v -v -r -ext mp4 -overwrite_original -tagsfromfile %d%f.mp4 -all:all -xmp:all -exif:all -composite:all -quicktime:all -iptc:all -gps:all %d%f.xmp .
exiftool -v -r -overwrite_original -tagsfromfile %d%f.xmp -all:all -xmp:all -exif:all -composite:all -quicktime:all -iptc:all -gps:all -ext m4v -ext mov -ext mp4 -ext avi .
Exiftool copy all Digikam Tags list to LastKeyword and drop XPkeywords, where there is no "Locatie" keyword in XMP-dc:Subject.
exiftool -overwrite_original -r -if "not $XMP-dc:Subject=~/Locatie/" "-XMP-dc:Subject<XMP-digiKam:TagsList" "-XMP-microsoft:LastKeywordXMP<XMP-digiKam:TagsList" -XMP-microsoft:LastKeywordIPTC= -IPTCDigest= -IFD0:XPKeywords= -ext jpg -ext jpeg -ext mp4 -ext m4v -ext mov .
Exiftool move all files to a directory structure "2020\05\03", without renaming the files themselves:
exiftool -v -ext jpg -ext mp4 "-Directory<CreateDate" -d %Y\%m\%d\ .
exiftool -v -ext jpg -ext mp4 "-Directory<CreateDate" -d %Y\%m\ .
Exiftool move all files to a directory structure (based on month) "\05", without renaming the files themselves:
exiftool -v -ext jpg -ext mp4 "-Directory<CreateDate" -d %m\ .
Exiftool move all video files from the Pictures folder to the Videos folder, under a directory structure "2020\05\03".
cd "%userprofile%\OneDrive\Afbeeldingen\Eigen foto's"
exiftool -r -v -ext mp4 -ext mov -ext m4v "-Directory<C:\Users\<USER>\OneDrive\Video's\$CreateDate" -d %Y\%m\%d\ .
Exiftool move all files to a directory structure "2020\05\03", AND rename the files to format "20200503-134367.jpg" (Year-Month-Day--Hour-Minute-Second):
exiftool -v -r -d %Y\%m\%d\%Y%m%d-%H%M%S%%-c.%%e "-filename<CreateDate" .
exiftool -r -overwrite_original "-xpcomment<${filename" "-comment<${filename" "-title<${filename" "-xptitle<${filename" .
exiftool -p "$directory/$filename" -ext jpg -q -q -r -if "not $gpslatitude" .
exiftool -p "$directory/$filename" -r -if "(not $createdate)" .
exiftool -p "$directory/$filename" -r -if "(not $datetimeoriginal)" .
exiftool -p "$directory/$filename" -r -if "(not $datetimeoriginal or $createdate)" .
exiftool -overwrite_original -makernotes:all= .
Exiftool import all image data from JSON files (from Google Takeout), and write to EXIF data of corresponding photos:
exiftool -overwrite_original -v -r -d %s -tagsfromfile "%d/%F.json" "-GPSAltitude<GeoDataAltitude" "-GPSLatitude<GeoDataLatitude" "-GPSLatitudeRef<GeoDataLatitude" "-GPSLongitude<GeoDataLongitude" "-GPSLongitudeRef<GeoDataLongitude" "-ModifyDate<PhotoTakenTimeTimestamp" "-CreateDate<PhotoTakenTimeTimestamp" "-DateTimeOriginal<PhotoTakenTimeTimestamp" -ext jpg -overwrite_original
Exiftool find all photos that have NO Microsoft Face tag but HAVE an XMP-MWG Face tag, and add a keyword to those:
exiftool -r -ext jpg -overwrite_original -m -v -if "($RegionName) and (not $RegionRectangle)" -Keywords+="Has-MS-Face-but-no-XMP-face" .
Exiftool find all photos that have NO Microsoft (MXP-MP) Face tag but HAVE a name in the Digikam /Mensen/ tree:
exiftool -p "$directory/$filename" -r -if "($XMP-digiKam:TagsList=~/INSERT-NAME-HERE/i) and (not $RegionPersonDisplayName=~/INSERT-NAME-HERE/i)" .
Exiftool find all photos that have NO Microsoft (MXP-MP) Face tag but HAVE a name in the Digikam /Mensen/ tree and add a tag to those:
exiftool -r -ext jpg -overwrite_original -m -if "($XMP-digiKam:TagsList=~/INSERT-NAME-HERE/i) and (not $RegionPersonDisplayName=~/INSERT-NAME-HERE/i)" -XMP-digiKam:TagsList+="Check" .
exiftool -T -Directory -Filename -RegionPersonDisplayName -r -ext jpg . > PeopleTags.txt
exiftool -r -v -overwrite_original -ext jpg "-filename<\${make;} ${model;}\%f.%e" .
exiftool -overwrite_original -all= <filename>
Useful for if many pictures do not have the CreateDate exif-property, but do have the DateTimeOriginal exif-property. If you want the CreateDate exif-property to have the same value as the DateTimeOriginal exif property:
exiftool -overwrite_original '-createdate<datetimeoriginal' -r -if '(not $createdate and $datetimeoriginal)' <your directory>
The .movs and .mp4s should be in the same directory with the same file name, only a different extension
exiftool -v -tagsfromfile %d%f.mov "-all:all>all:all" -overwrite_original -ext mp4 .