ExifTool Without the Terminal: Sort Photos Into Folders by Date With a GUI (Mac & Windows)

What does the ExifTool command actually do?

First, credit where it is due. ExifTool is written by Phil Harvey, it is free and open source, and it is the reference tool for reading and writing photo metadata — many photo apps use it under the hood. The command below is correct; it is just unforgiving.

This is the version assistants usually give:

exiftool -r -d '%Y/%Y-%m' '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' ~/Pictures/Unsorted

# exiftool                       the program
# -r                             recurse: also process every subfolder
# -d '%Y/%Y-%m'                  format dates as year / year-month, e.g. 2024/2024-07
# '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal'  set each file's folder from its capture date
# ~/Pictures/Unsorted            the folder to read

Directory is one of ExifTool's “pseudo” tags: writing it doesn't edit the photo, it moves the file into that folder, creating folders as needed. The path is relative, so the year folders appear inside whatever folder your terminal is in when you press Return — not inside Unsorted.

Without -o, the files are moved. ExifTool's manual is explicit that when only Directory or FileName is written, -o makes it copy instead. That is where the second version comes from:

exiftool -r -o . -d '%Y/%Y-%m' \
  '-Directory<FileModifyDate' '-Directory<CreateDate' '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' \
  ~/Pictures/Unsorted

# -o .                           copy instead of move (the "." is a placeholder;
#                                the Directory value decides where files go)
# three '-Directory<' arguments  the tag-order fallback: the last tag that exists
#                                wins, so DateTimeOriginal is used when present,
#                                then CreateDate, then the file's modified date

Two more details trip people up. On Windows, cmd.exe needs double quotes instead of single ones, and inside a batch file every % has to be doubled. And the command shows you nothing in advance: it prints a count of files updated when it is done. To rehearse, you write the value to the TestName pseudo-tag instead, which prints each planned old --> new path and moves nothing — a real dry run, as long as you know to ask for it.

What goes wrong when you run it on a real library?

A camera card sorts cleanly. A real library — phones, messaging apps, screenshots, old backups — hits these five cases.

1. Files with no DateTimeOriginal (WhatsApp images, screenshots, scans)

   ExifTool: with the one-tag command, those files are skipped with a “No writable tags set” warning and stay in the source folder. With the FileModifyDate fallback they get filed under the file's modified date, which after a download, an unzip or a cloud sync is often just the day the file arrived.

   FolioSort: the When no EXIF setting falls back to a date in the file name (camera-roll and WhatsApp names carry one), to the file system date — the earlier of the two stamps, because a copy can only push the creation date forward — or leaves those files where they are. Anything dated by inference can be marked approximate.

2. Videos keep their date in QuickTime tags

   ExifTool: most MOV and MP4 files store their date as QuickTime CreateDate, not DateTimeOriginal, so the one-tag command leaves videos behind. That is why the longer variant chains CreateDate.

   FolioSort: clips are sorted by their capture date alongside the photos, so a day's shoot stays in one folder instead of splitting into two archives.

3. Time zones move clips across midnight

   ExifTool: the QuickTime specification says video dates are UTC, but many cameras write local time, so by default ExifTool does not convert them (Canon CR3 is the exception); the -api QuickTimeUTC option makes it convert. Pick the wrong one and a New Year's Eve clip lands in the next day, month or year.

   FolioSort: what helps here is the preview. Every destination folder is listed with its file count before a single file moves, so a clip filed a day off is visible while it is still a setting, not a cleanup job.

4. Two files with the same name

   ExifTool: it never overwrites an existing file — the clash is reported as an error and that file is simply not moved, unless you add a copy number such as %-c to a file-name pattern.

   FolioSort: name collisions are resolved instead of overwritten. The free tier skips a file that already exists at the destination; Pro lets you skip, keep both with a suffix, or replace, and choose how two files are judged identical.

5. No undo

   ExifTool: there is no undo command. Once files have moved, putting them back means another command or a backup.

   FolioSort: every run is one batch in Activity; the last 50 are kept, and undo restores files to their original paths. Transfers are checksum-verified (XXHash64 on Free, SHA-256 on Pro), and in Move mode the source copy is removed only after the destination copy has been written and, with verification on, checksummed. See how FolioSort protects files.

How do you do the same thing in FolioSort?

Here is exiftool -r -o . -d '%Y/%Y-%m' '-Directory<DateTimeOriginal' ~/Pictures/Unsorted, one argument at a time, in the Organize panel.

1. Pick the source folder (the path and -r)

   Open Organize, choose Source Folder — the same ~/Pictures/Unsorted — and leave Include Subfolders on, which is what -r did. Press Scan. A scan only reads each file's metadata; nothing is written.

2. Choose where the tree goes, and Copy or Move (-o .)

   Set a Destination Folder, then pick Copy (the equivalent of -o ., and the default) or Move (the command without -o). Copy leaves every original where it was.

3. Set the folder shape (-d '%Y/%Y-%m')

   Under Folder Structure, the Year / Month preset is free. For the exact 2024/2024-07 shape, type {YYYY}/{YYYY}-{MM} in the Template Builder (Pro). Add {Camera} or {City} if you want what a longer command would do.

4. Decide what happens to files with no capture date (the fallback tags)

   Under Metadata Fallback → When no EXIF, choose a date from the file name (camera-roll and WhatsApp names carry one), the file system date, or leave those files where they are. Turn on Approximate inferred dates to mark anything that was dated by inference.

5. Check the preview, then run (TestName, but visual)

   The preview is the real folder tree your settings produce for your scanned files, with file counts. If it looks right, leave Verify after transfer on and press the run button. The whole run is one batch in Activity, where one click undoes it.

Want the date in the file name as well, the way '-FileName<CreateDate' does it? Rename builds names like 2024-07-13_0142.CR3 from the same capture date, with a before → after preview for every file. More on the date logic in Organize photos by date.

Choosing an app rather than a command? Our shortlists of the best photo organizers for Mac and the best photo organizers for Windows compare the wider field. FolioSort 4.9.9 is used in 80+ countries, has processed 12M+ files, and is made by an independent developer who answers support e-mail himself.