diff --git a/docs/docs/.vitepress/sidebar.ts b/docs/docs/.vitepress/sidebar.ts index 7a475250a2..6aff8e3319 100644 --- a/docs/docs/.vitepress/sidebar.ts +++ b/docs/docs/.vitepress/sidebar.ts @@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ export const sidebar = [ text: "Hide vs archive", link: "/photos/faq/hidden-and-archive", }, + { + text: "Photo dates", + link: "/photos/faq/photo-dates", + }, ], }, { diff --git a/docs/docs/photos/faq/photo-dates.md b/docs/docs/photos/faq/photo-dates.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..b29938d282 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/docs/photos/faq/photo-dates.md @@ -0,0 +1,53 @@ +--- +title: Photo dates +description: Ensuring correct metadata and dates in Ente Photos +--- + +# Photos dates + +Ente will import the date for your photos from three places: + +1. Exif +2. Metadata JSON +3. File name + +## Exif + +Normally, Ente app tries to read the date of the photo from the Exif and other +metadata (e.g. XMP, IPTC) embedded in the file. + +> [!TIP] +> +> You can see all of the Exif metadata embedded within a photo by using the +> "View all Exif data" option in the info panel for the photo in Ente. + +## Importing from Google Takeout + +In case of photos exported from Google Photos, the metadata is not embedded +within the file itself, but is instead present in a separate sidecar ".json" +file. Ente knows how to read these files, and in such cases can pick up the +metadata from them. + +When you export your data using a Google Takeout, Google provides you both your +photos and their associated metadata JSON files. However, for incomprehensible +reasons, they split the JSON and photo across zip files. That is, in some cases +if you have a file named `flower.jpeg`, which has an associated metadata JSON +file named `flower.json`, Google will put the `.jpeg` and the `.json` in +separate Takeout zips, and Ente will be unable to correlate them. + +To avoid such issues, **we [recommend](/photos/migration/from-google-photos/) +unzipping all of your Google takeout zips into a single folder, and then +importing that folder into Ente**. This way, we will be able to always correctly +map, for example, `flower.jpeg` and `flower.json` and show the same date for +`flower.jpeg` that you would've seen within Google Photos. + +## Screenshots + +In case the photo does not have a date in the Exif data (and it is not a Google +Takeout), for example, for screenshots or Whatsapp forwards, Ente will still try +and deduce the correct date for the file from the name of the file. + +> [!NOTE] +> +> This process works great most of the time, but it is inherently based on +> heuristics and is not exact. diff --git a/docs/docs/photos/migration/from-google-photos/index.md b/docs/docs/photos/migration/from-google-photos/index.md index 80973e9268..e334ca5f88 100644 --- a/docs/docs/photos/migration/from-google-photos/index.md +++ b/docs/docs/photos/migration/from-google-photos/index.md @@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ it with Ente. 9. Open [our desktop app](https://ente.io/download/desktop), click on "Upload", select "Google takeout" and pick the ZIP file you just downloaded. - -> If you were provided with multiple ZIP files, please extract **all** the -> files into one folder and select that folder instead. + +> If you were provided with multiple ZIP files, please extract **all** the files +> into one folder and select that folder instead. ![Importing Google Takeout into Ente](google-takeout.png){width=400px}