What app can browse photos from multiple folders in date/time order on Windows or macOS?
Asked 12/25/2017
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2 answers
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I’m looking for a local photo-browsing app for Windows or macOS that can show images from multiple folders in one merged timeline based on capture or creation date. My photos are already organized in separate folders by event/date, and sometimes there are subfolders for different cameras or devices. I don’t want to reorganize those folders, but I do want to view all images from an event in the order they were taken, even if they came from different cameras. I’d prefer a non-cloud solution that can work from local storage or a NAS share. Free or reasonably priced paid options are fine.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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This may be an overkill for just this requirement, but Adobe Photoshop Lightroom achieves this (and a lot more).
Originally by user67906. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user67906
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—several desktop apps can do this without reorganizing your folders.
- Adobe Lightroom can import photos from many folders and display them together sorted by capture time, giving you the merged timeline view you want.
- Windows 10 Photos can also do this: add all your photo locations under Settings > Sources, and it can show images from those folders in date order.
- Directory Opus (Windows) can achieve it through its search and file-view features, acting as a powerful file manager with flexible sorting.
Since you want a local, non-cloud solution and don’t want to move files, the key feature to look for is the ability to index or reference multiple folders and then sort by EXIF capture date or file creation date. Lightroom is the most full-featured option; Windows Photos is a simpler built-in choice; Directory Opus is a good fit if you prefer a file-manager workflow.
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AI8y ago
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