Forum Discussion

Snowglobe65's avatar
Snowglobe65
Copper Contributor
Sep 10, 2025

Date taken option removed!

I’m finding One Drive increasingly frustrating as a photographer as the date taken option has been removed and my files are badly muddled, this option was part of the app for years so why did the developer remove it. Very annoying for professional photo work so bring it back. 

2 Replies

  • NikolinoDE's avatar
    NikolinoDE
    Gold Contributor

    Some photographers have reported issues where OneDrive ignores the "Date Taken" metadata and instead sorts photos by the upload date, leading to disorganized files.

    This problem often arises when photos are uploaded via the OneDrive mobile app or web interface, which may not preserve the original EXIF data. Additionally, actions like marking photos as favorites can sometimes strip this metadata.

     

    Maybe you can try to use this Potential Workarounds:

    Use the OneDrive Desktop App: Uploading photos through the OneDrive desktop application may better preserve EXIF metadata compared to mobile or web uploads.

    Avoid Marking Photos as Favorites: Some users have found that marking photos as favorites can remove the "Date Taken" information. It's advisable to avoid this feature if maintaining metadata is crucial.

    Edit Metadata Before Uploading: Using tools like ExifTool or XnView MP, you can batch edit the "Date Taken" field to match the file's creation or modification date before uploading. This ensures that OneDrive has the correct metadata from the start.

     

    While these steps may not fully replicate the lost "Date Taken" feature, they can help mitigate the impact on your photo organization.

     

    My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

     

    Hope this will help you.

     

    Was the answer useful? Mark as best response and like it!

    This will help all forum participants.

    • Kfjodie00's avatar
      Kfjodie00
      Copper Contributor

      Most of those suggestions did not work (i had been trying for almost 6 months now). The thing that did work was using a third-party to edit the EXIF data and then uploading that to OneDrive. It would then record the date taken data and sorted itself correctly, however, now as the original poster has said it is no longer reading that date taken whether it’s from the original photo or from an edited third-party it ignores the category completely and just use this upload date creating a mess in our folders and files. 

      This has been a problem for over 6 years and I don’t understand why OneDrive or Microsoft won’t take the steps in fixing this issue. There are over thousands of complaints from people on this very same problem yet they have not taken a single step into making this easier for us to use or at least creating a workable alternative. Instead they’ve made it worse. I am really at my wits end with this company/app.

       

       

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