How to keep original date and time of imported files after exporting in Audacity...?

[Boi Social]

Hi,
I've been searching the forum to find an answer to my question first, BUT no succes...

I make alot of voice memos that I need to sort chronologically and now i just need to keep numbering them. Which is really tedious work :S
Is there ANY WAY to keep the date created and date modified information from my IMPORTED audio files, AFTER batch exporting them?

Greets,
Boi

[Darcon64]

I had this problem with video files from an SD card.

My solution was: DO NOT COPY the files from the card to your desired harddrive. Instead, select the "Send to" option. (You find this when you right click the relevant file.) Now select the desired drive. It will only send to the root directory. You can then move them from the root directory to the desired folder.

In the desired folder (see attachment), you should see a tab "Date Created". If you can't see it, where it says "Name", right click will bring up a menu. Scroll down and select the desired option (Date Created) and hopefully this will solve your problem.

[Boi Social]

I had this problem with video files from an SD card.

My solution was: DO NOT COPY the files from the card to your desired harddrive. Instead, select the "Send to" option. (You find this when you right click the relevant file.) Now select the desired drive. It will only send to the root directory. You can then move them from the root directory to the desired folder.

In the desired folder (see attachment), you should see a tab "Date Created". If you can't see it, where it says "Name", right click will bring up a menu. Scroll down and select the desired option (Date Created) and hopefully this will solve your problem.

Sorry what?
I have NO problems transferring my files to my computer...

I want to know how to have AUDACITY KEEP the dates in the files after editing them with whatever effects or cuts i've done in post...

Not sure if it's me that is confused here, or if it's you :S

[steve]

Is there ANY WAY to keep the date created and date modified information from my IMPORTED audio files, AFTER batch exporting them?

No.
When you export from Audacity, it creates a NEW file (even if you overwrite the original file, you are overwriting it with a new audio file).

I make alot of voice memos that I need to sort chronologically and now i just need to keep numbering them. Which is really tedious work :S

Probably the easiest solution would be to include the date / time in the file name. For example, rather than exporting as:
"my-file.wav"
export it as:
"my-file_2020-01-29_18-33.wav" (33 minutes past 6pm, 29th January 2020)

Your (new) exported files can then be easily sorted by name.

IMPORTANT: Don't use "special" characters in the file name. Definitely do not use the "\" (backslash) character.

[snapshot2020]

Thank you Darcon64 very helpful information.

[Boi Social]

No.
When you export from Audacity, it creates a NEW file (even if you overwrite the original file, you are overwriting it with a new audio file).

Wouldn't it be possible to implement this in a future update? Or are there any other software out there that allow this??

Probably the easiest solution would be to include the date / time in the file name. For example, rather than exporting as:
"my-file.wav"
export it as:
"my-file_2020-01-29_18-33.wav" (33 minutes past 6pm, 29th January 2020)

Your (new) exported files can then be easily sorted by name.

This is essentially what I'm already doing right now, so it kinda beats the purpose of this topic hehehe

[steve]

Wouldn't it be possible to implement this in a future update?

Audacity does not operate directly on audio files - On import, the audio is copied from the audio file into the Audacity project. This is a core design feature of Audacity and of the Audacity project format.

There are some apps that can perform simple edits directly into an audio file (in situ without creating a new file) but they are limited to simple editing and metadata changes. Example: mp3DirectCut (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3DirectCut)

[Boi Social]

Audacity does not operate directly on audio files - On import, the audio is copied from the audio file into the Audacity project. This is a core design feature of Audacity and of the Audacity project format.

But isn't it possible to also import the metadata into audacity??

[steve]

"Metadata" in audio files is a different thing from the Windows time stamp (file creation / modification time).
Yes Audacity does support metadata in files, though it does not support every metadata option for every audio file type, only the common tags. More info here: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/met ... ditor.html