Date Old Photos, Automatically
To fix scanned photo dates, write the real year into each file’s EXIF DateTimeOriginal field: the date photo apps sort by. Timeline Scan finds the year and writes it for the whole archive at once. Know the dates already? Our free Timeline Tagger app adds them by hand.
Free photo trial, no credit card.
Free instant check
Drop in an old photo and AI estimates the year it was taken, with the plausible range and the clues it used. No sign-up, and your photo is never stored.
Analyzed in memory and discarded: never stored, never linked to you, never used for training. 5 free checks a day.
One photo is a guess; a whole shoebox is a timeline. In the full service, every photo helps date its neighbors.
The problem
In Google Photos? Why its dates go wrong, and the three fixes.
What you get back
Every layout, with examples, on the file download page.
Hosted, and the family helps organize
Delivered to an album, in order
Scans land in the right year
Written back to your server
And any EXIF/IPTC-aware tool
Any scanner or scanning service.
A year or range for every photo.
Tag people you know, for sharper dates.
Corrected dates inside every file.
Honest alternatives
Know the dates? Our free Timeline Tagger app writes them into your files.
| Criteria | Timeline Tagger (free) | Apple Photos (free) | Timeline Scan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finds the dates for you | NoYou type each date | NoYou type each date | YesReads backs, lab stamps and clues |
| Writes the date into the file | YesEXIF, IPTC and XMP fields | PartlyOnly on export, with metadata | YesEXIF and XMP, in every file |
| Practical at archive scale | PartlyAbout ten seconds a photo | PartlyOne date per selection | YesThe whole collection at once |
Don’t know the dates? Our free tool answers what year was this photo taken. Or learn how to date old photos yourself.
Try free photos first. Paid packs from $12 per 100 photos.
View pricingCommon questions
From clues in the picture itself: the print's border and shape, the film's color and grain, clothes and hairstyles, cars and technology, and the ages of the people. Timeline Scan's AI reads those clues across the whole archive, adds any handwriting or lab stamps from the backs, and estimates a year or range for every photo.
The free instant check at the top of this page does a lighter version for one photo.
Most scanned photos are new digital files. Unless the original date is added manually, the file often stores the scan date, import date, or export date instead of the date the photo was originally taken.
Sometimes, especially when dates are written or printed on the photo. For many older family photos, Timeline Scan estimates an approximate year or date range using available clues.
Yes. Timeline Scan writes the dates into your scans before they reach Google Photos, which sorts by the date inside each file. See our guide to fixing scanned photos with the wrong date in Google Photos. Apps read metadata differently, so behavior in every app is not guaranteed.
Yes. If you received standard image files from a scanning or digitization service, Timeline Scan can help organize them after digitization.
Not unless you choose to replace them. Timeline Scan works from the files you upload and prepares corrected exports for download or supported delivery options, and the image pixels are not altered.
Yes, if you know the dates. Our free Timeline Tagger app for Mac and Windows shows each scan beside its back and writes the date you enter into the file, about ten seconds a photo. Apple Photos and Google Photos have date editors inside those apps.
Timeline Scan is for when the dates are unknown or the archive runs into the thousands.
Your whole collection, back in the order it happened. Start with free photos.
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