'Group by date created' uses the wrong date (ignores DateTimeOriginal)

[venik-fi]

Hi, I love Diffractor and I make massive use of “Group by date created” feature to organize my photos.

Making some tests, I understand this feature does not group by “DateTimeOriginal”.

• Could be possible to have an option to “Group by date time original”?

On this topic I also would like to report some weird issue

Taking the following test image, where DateTimeOriginal is 1990 Feb 01
TestImage.zip

exiftool -time:all -G0:1 -s .\test_oldest_DateTimeOriginal.jpg
[File:System]   FileModifyDate                  : 2024:08:03 16:22:55+02:00
[File:System]   FileAccessDate                  : 2024:08:03 16:22:55+02:00
[File:System]   FileCreateDate                  : 2023:01:01 00:00:00+01:00
[EXIF:IFD0]     ModifyDate                      : 2023:08:01 00:00:00
[EXIF:ExifIFD]  DateTimeOriginal                : 1990:02:01 00:00:00
[ICC_Profile:ICC-header] ProfileDateTime        : 1999:06:03 00:00:00

Here Diffractor seems to classify the image with date 01 Aug 23 (ModifyDate)

• Why Diffractor uses tag ModifyDate to set the image date and to group by date created?
  I was expecting to take DateTimeOriginal (1990 Feb 01 ) or maybe the oldest date available?

• If I use “Click to Open” Diffractor cannot find the photo.. It looks for 2023-aug-1

[venik-fi]

Hi, I zipped the test image (since github manipulates the image :D ).
Any advice on the issue reported (ModifyDate is always used as created data) @ZacWalk ?
Thank you!

[venik-fi]

Hi @ZacWalk ,
I hope you're doing well.

Let me try to explain the importance of this request.
The DateTimeOriginal EXIF tag reflects the moment of capture by the camera, whereas the ModifyDate tag corresponds to the last modification made to the image file.

We need an option to group and sort images by DateTimeOriginal.
Currently, grouping by "Date Created" is misleading, as it uses ModifyDate whenever it's available, which impacts the workflow significantly.

I truly believe Diffractor is a masterpiece but such feature is crucial to maintain accuracy in our sorting and organization.

Thank you,
Vincenzo

[venik-fi]

Hi Zac any clarification on the strategy used to sort images in diffractor?
Thank you!

[venik-fi]

Hi @ZacWalk also this is an old open issue still actual...
If you edit an old image you will mess-up the sorting using "Group by date created" and will appear in "Today"

[ZacWalk]

Hi @venik-fi, thanks for the report. The new v1.26.3 release includes changes that should improve this: "date created" and "date modified" are now separate group-by options, so grouping should use the expected date field. Would you mind updating and retesting on this version, then letting us know if it's resolved? Thanks!

[venik-fi]

Hi @ZacWalk, first thank you for the last release!

I still think we miss this a feature in 1.26.3: "option to group and sort images by DateTimeOriginal exif field"

As an example:

Folder of last holiday picture (August 2025)
One picture was edited, it appears in different grouping (September),

Nevertheless the all possible sorting option, it seems we cannot sort by DateTimeOriginal

[ZacWalk]

The fix is included in Diffractor 1.27.0, build 1.27.0.1254, but this needs confirmation in the reporter environment. Please retest the edited holiday photo and confirm that Group by and Sort by Date Created use its EXIF DateTimeOriginal. Please reply with the build number and result; this issue will remain open until confirmed.