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Metadata and Editing ​

Viewing Metadata ​

What metadata does Ente preserve during import? ​

Ente reads and preserves:

  • EXIF data: Camera settings, date taken, GPS coordinates
  • XMP and IPTC: Additional metadata standards
  • Google Takeout JSON: If importing from Google Photos
  • Filename-based dates: For files without EXIF (like screenshots)

All this metadata is:

  • Encrypted before upload
  • Preserved when you export

How does Ente handle Exif data and descriptions? ​

Ente will try to read as much information from Exif metadata when the image is uploaded, but after that, only the fields which have been parsed into Ente can be searched.

The app still shows all the fields in the raw Exif data in the file info panel when someone taps on the "View all Exif" option, but otherwise the app is unaware of these fields.

In particular, for the description associated with a photo, the exact logic to determine the description from the Exif when uploading the image can be seen in this part of the code.

Where does Ente import photo dates from? ​

Ente will import the date for your photos from three places (in order of priority):

  1. EXIF data: Normally, Ente tries to read the date from the Exif and other metadata (e.g. XMP, IPTC) embedded in the file.

  2. Metadata JSON (Google Takeout): In case of photos exported from Google Photos, the metadata is not embedded within the file itself, but is instead present in a separate sidecar ".json" file. Ente knows how to read these files.

  3. File name: If the photo does not have a date in the Exif data (and it is not a Google takeout), for example, for screenshots or WhatsApp forwards, Ente will try and deduce the correct date for the file from the name of the file.

Note: The filename-based detection works great most of the time, but it is inherently based on heuristics and is not exact.

If we are unable to decipher the creation time from these 3 sources, we will set the upload time as the photo's creation time.

How do I view EXIF data for a photo? ​

On mobile, web and desktop:

  1. Open the photo
  2. Tap the overflow menu (⋮) and select Info on mobile, or click the info button (i) on web/desktop
  3. Scroll down to see basic metadata
  4. Tap "View all Exif data" to see complete EXIF information

This shows all the technical data about the photo including camera settings, lens information, and more.

What metadata can people I share with see? ​

Anyone you share an album with sees the same item details you do: capture date, camera EXIF, captions, album titles, and map pins, because that metadata decrypts together with the photo.

Public link viewers see the same fields. Contributor emails on a shared album are masked on public links by default; see Why do emails on my feed appear masked for public links?.

Importing from Google Photos ​

How does Ente handle Google Takeout metadata? ​

When you export your data using Google Takeout, Google provides both your photos and their associated metadata JSON files. However, Google sometimes splits the JSON and photo across different zip files.

For example, flower.jpeg might be in one zip and flower.json in another. This prevents Ente from correctly mapping them.

Best practice: We recommend unzipping all of your Google Takeout zips into a single parent folder, keeping subfolders as-is (do not flatten files), then importing that parent folder into Ente. This way, we can always correctly map photos and their metadata.

Why are my Google Photos dates wrong after import? ​

If the dates appear incorrect after importing from Google Takeout, it's usually because:

  • The photo's Exif data has a different date than Google's metadata JSON
  • The JSON file wasn't matched with the photo during import

To fix this:

  1. Make sure you unzipped all Google Takeout zips into one parent folder (with subfolders kept as-is)
  2. Import that parent folder (not individual zips)
  3. This ensures Ente can match JSON files with their photos

Editing Metadata ​

What metadata is preserved when I edit a photo? ​

When Ente creates an edited copy, some metadata such as location, date, and time may be preserved. Other metadata may not be retained in the edited copy.

The original photo remains untouched.

How do I add descriptions or captions to photos? ​

You can add descriptions (captions) to your photos in Ente:

On mobile, web and desktop:

  1. Open the photo
  2. Tap the overflow menu (⋮) and select Info on mobile, or click the info button (i) on web/desktop
  3. Tap/click "Add description" or the description field
  4. Type your description
  5. Save

Searchability: Descriptions are searchable! You can find photos later by searching for words in their descriptions.

Privacy: Like all your data in Ente, descriptions are stored end-to-end encrypted.

Can I bulk edit photo dates? ​

Yes! You can bulk-edit creation time of photos from the desktop app:

  1. Multi-select the photos you want to edit (Ctrl/Cmd+click or Shift+click)
  2. Select the "Edit time" option from the action bar
  3. Choose the correct date/time
  4. Apply to all selected photos

This is useful for:

  • Fixing photos with incorrect timestamps
  • Adjusting timezone differences
  • Correcting dates on scanned photos

Note: This feature is currently only available on the desktop app.

Can I bulk edit photo locations? ​

Yes! You can bulk-edit location coordinates:

On mobile:

  1. Long press to multi-select the photos you want to edit
  2. Tap "Edit location" from the action bar
  3. Choose the correct location on the map
  4. Tap Save

On web/desktop:

  1. Click to select photos (Ctrl/Cmd+click or Shift+click for multiple)
  2. Click the edit location icon in the selection bar
  3. Click on the map to set the location, or drag the pin to adjust
  4. Click "Save location"

This is useful for:

  • Adding location to photos without GPS data
  • Correcting wrong GPS coordinates
  • Organizing photos by location after the fact

How do I fix incorrect photo dates? ​

Photos sometimes have incorrect dates due to:

  • Camera settings being wrong
  • Timezone issues
  • Scanned photos without proper metadata

To fix dates:

  1. Use the bulk date editing feature (see above)
  2. Select photos with incorrect dates
  3. Apply the correct date/time

Ente will store your corrections and sync them across all your devices.

Are my metadata edits reversible? ​

Yes! When you edit metadata (dates, locations, descriptions) in Ente, the original file is never modified. Your edits are stored separately.

When you export your photos:

  • You get the exact original file
  • Edits are saved in a separate JSON file (same format as Google Takeout)
  • This preserves both the original and your modifications

This means:

  • You can always access the original metadata
  • Your edits are preserved when exporting
  • Your original files remain untouched

How do I edit photo filenames? ​

You can rename photos in Ente:

On mobile and web:

  1. Open the photo
  2. Tap the overflow menu (⋮) and select Info on mobile, or click the info button (i) on web
  3. Tap/click on the filename
  4. Enter the new name
  5. Save

The original filename is preserved, and your edit is stored separately (similar to other metadata edits).

Can I add location data to photos that don't have it? ​

Yes! You can manually add location data to any photo:

On mobile:

  1. Select the photo(s)
  2. Tap "Edit location" from the menu
  3. Select the location on the map
  4. Tap Save

On web/desktop:

  1. Open the photo and click the info button (i)
  2. In the Location section, click "Add"
  3. Click on the map to set the location, or drag the pin to adjust
  4. Click "Save location"

You can also add location to multiple photos at once. Learn more at Bulk edit photo locations.

This adds GPS coordinates to the photo's metadata, allowing you to:

  • View them on the map
  • Search by location
  • Organize photos by where they were taken

Exporting Metadata ​

Does the exported data preserve metadata? ​

Yes, the metadata is written out to a separate JSON file during export. Note that the original is not modified.

When you export your library, suppose you have flower.png. You will end up with:

flower.png
metadata/flower.png.json

Ente writes this JSON in the same format as Google Takeout so that if a tool supports Google Takeout import, it should be able to read the JSON written by Ente too.

One small difference: to avoid clutter, Ente puts the JSON in the metadata/ subfolder, while Google puts it next to the file. Ente itself will read it from either place.

Here is a sample of how the JSON looks:

json
{
    "description": "This will be imported as the caption",
    "photoTakenTime": {
        "timestamp": "1613532136",
        "formatted": "17 Feb 2021, 03:22:16 UTC"
    },
    "creationTime": {
        "timestamp": "1613532136",
        "formatted": "17 Feb 2021, 03:22:16 UTC"
    },
    "modificationTime": {
        "timestamp": "1640225957",
        "formatted": "23 Dec 2021, 02:19:17 UTC"
    },
    "geoData": {
        "latitude": 12.004170700000001,
        "longitude": 79.8013945
    }
}

Ente writes both timestamp blocks: photoTakenTime holds the photo's capture time (the value other apps and Takeout expect), while creationTime is kept only for backward compatibility with older exports that relied on it and may be dropped in a future version. When importing, Ente treats photoTakenTime as canonical and falls back to creationTime if needed. geoDataExif will be considered as a fallback for geoData.

NOTE

The creationTime field is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Prefer photoTakenTime.

What happens to file creation time during export? ​

The photo's data will be preserved verbatim, however when it is written out to disk on a new machine a new file gets created. This file will not have the same file system creation time as the file that was uploaded.

There are two reasons for this:

  1. "Creation time" is not universal: For example, Linux does not support it. From the man page of fstat, we can see that this information is just not recorded by the file system on Linux.

  2. Cannot be set from browsers or mobile apps: There isn't a way to set it even on Windows and macOS for files downloaded from the browser, or for files saved from the mobile apps.

We have considered modifying our desktop and CLI clients to write back the photo's creation time into the creation time of the filesystem file during export. But it is not clear if this would be less or more confusing due to inconsistencies across platforms.

Ente is a photos app, not a file system backup app. Customers for whom the creation time of the file on disk is paramount might be better served by file backup apps.

Does the date taken of a file change when the file is downloaded or exported? ​

No, the date taken (or "date time") remains the same and is preserved in the EXIF of the file. However, the creation date and modification date are changed as stated in the above FAQ.

Can I modify the original files during export? ​

No. Ente guarantees that you will get back the exact same original photos and videos that you imported. The modifications (e.g. date changes) you make within Ente will be written into a separate metadata JSON file during export so as to not modify the original.

This ensures:

  • You always have access to originals
  • Your edits are preserved separately
  • You can use the metadata JSON with other tools

How can I read the corrected date for a photo from my Ente export? ​

Ente never modifies your original files, so corrected dates are not written back into the photo's EXIF. Instead, they live in the metadata JSON sidecar that ships alongside the file in your export.

To check either:

  • Original embedded EXIF: use a tool like exiftool on the photo file itself.
  • Corrected date set in Ente: open the matching JSON in metadata/ with any text or JSON viewer and look at photoTakenTime.

If a photo has no original EXIF date and no Ente correction, the JSON will reflect Ente's best-guess fallback (filename or upload time).

Why do some exported photos show the wrong date when imported into another app? ​

Ente exports the original file untouched and writes the corrected date to a separate JSON sidecar (Google Takeout format). Other apps will only show the right date if they read that JSON.

This shows up most often with files that never had a proper EXIF date to begin with, for example, WhatsApp forwards or screenshots, where Ente had to fall back to the filename or upload time. The original file simply has no embedded date for the new app to read.

If the importing app supports Google Takeout-style JSON, keep the metadata/ folder alongside the photos when transferring. Learn more at Does the exported data preserve metadata?.

Platform-Specific Behavior ​

Do metadata edits sync across devices? ​

Yes! All metadata edits (dates, locations, descriptions, filenames) are synced across all your devices using end-to-end encryption.

When you edit metadata on one device:

  • Changes appear on all other devices
  • The original file remains unchanged everywhere
  • Edits are preserved when exporting from any device

Can I edit metadata on all platforms? ​

Available on mobile, web, and desktop:

  • Adding descriptions
  • Editing filenames
  • Viewing all EXIF data
  • Adding and editing locations

Desktop only:

  • Bulk editing dates ("Edit time" feature)

We're working on bringing all editing features to all platforms.

Does Ente modify any file metadata? ​

No. Ente never modifies your original files or their embedded metadata. All edits you make are stored separately in Ente's database and:

  • Synced encrypted across your devices
  • Written to separate JSON files during export
  • Kept separate from the original file

Your original photos with their original metadata remain untouched.