How to Change a Photo's Date on Windows 10 and 11

Quick answer: Windows File Explorer can edit a photo's "Date taken" through Properties > Details, but that only writes the EXIF tag for some formats, and Explorer hides errors when it fails. It silently does nothing on HEIC and PNG, and it cannot batch a folder reliably. The dependable, cross-format way to change the real capture date is a free browser EXIF date editor: it writes DateTimeOriginal into the file itself, with no install and no upload. Here is how both methods work, and when to use each.

Windows has two separate ideas of a photo's "date," and most people change the wrong one. Below, the built-in method first, then the reliable one.

Method 1: File Explorer Properties > Details (built-in, but limited)

Windows 10 and 11 both let you edit the capture date without any extra software:

1. Open the folder, right-click the photo, and choose Properties.
2. Click the Details tab.
3. Find Date taken, click the value next to it, and type the new date and time.
4. Click Apply, then OK.

For a standard JPEG straight off a camera or phone, this often works and writes the EXIF date into the file. So why not stop here?

The limits are real, and Explorer does not warn you about them:

• It only edits some formats. The Date taken field is blank and uneditable for PNG and TIFF, and for HEIC (the default iPhone format) Windows usually shows no editable date at all.
• It fails silently. When Explorer cannot write the tag, it does not show an error. You type a new date, click OK, and nothing actually changes in the file. You only find out later when the old date reappears.
• No real batch. Selecting many files and editing Date taken for all of them is unreliable: it skips files it cannot write and gives no report of what succeeded.
• It can touch the wrong tag. Explorer's Date taken does not always map cleanly to DateTimeOriginal, so other apps may still read the old value.

If your file is a clean JPEG and you only have one or two, the built-in method is fine. For anything else, use the next method.

Method 2: Browser EXIF date editor (reliable, writes the file)

To change the real capture date in a way that sticks across every app and format:

1. Open the EXIF date editor in any browser on Windows.
2. Upload the photo (JPEG, and more).
3. Type the new date and time.
4. Click Apply and download the new file.

This writes DateTimeOriginal directly into the file, which is the tag photo apps, cameras, and operating systems actually read for "when this was taken." It runs entirely in your browser, so the photo never uploads to a server, and there is nothing to install. When the date needs to be correct everywhere (for sorting, for sharing, for evidence), this is the method to trust. If you want to confirm what a file currently holds, open it in the EXIF viewer first.

Why "Date modified" and "Date created" are NOT the date taken

In a File Explorer folder, the columns you see most often are Date modified and Date created. These are filesystem timestamps, set by Windows, not by the camera:

• Date created is when this copy of the file landed on this drive. Copy a photo to a new folder and it can become today.
• Date modified is when the file's bytes last changed.

Neither one is the capture date. The date the photo was actually taken lives inside the file as EXIF DateTimeOriginal. Sorting a folder by Date created can scramble photos into the wrong order even when their real capture dates are perfect. For the full breakdown, see date taken vs date created vs date modified. If your dates already look wrong, why is my photo date wrong covers the common causes.

Changing the date on many photos at once

Need to fix a whole batch (a trip, a scanned album, a camera with the clock set wrong)? File Explorer's multi-select edit is the part most likely to fail silently, so it is the worst tool for bulk work. A browser EXIF editor handles files one at a time but with certainty: each download genuinely carries the new DateTimeOriginal, and nothing is skipped without telling you. For very large batches, power users sometimes reach for a command-line tool, but for most people the browser editor is faster to learn and safer, because you can see and verify each result.

The short version

Windows File Explorer can edit Date taken through Properties > Details, but only for some formats, with no batch, and it hides its failures on HEIC, PNG, and TIFF. The reliable, format-proof fix is a free browser EXIF date editor: it writes DateTimeOriginal into the file, runs locally, and never uploads your photo. Remember that Date created and Date modified in the folder are not the capture date. For other platforms and the bigger picture, see how to change the date on a photo.