Assigning a date to a file

[Guest]

We're currently undertaking a rather large scanning project and have come up
against a bit of a brick wall. The problem is that we are unable to assign a
date to a file (e.g. a letter dated 1st July '05 scanned in will be
datestamped with today's date).

The folders we will be using to store documents will have a mixture of typed
word documents and received correspondence which will then be scanned in.
Ideally we want an easy way of putting the files in the folder in
chronological order based on the date attributed to the document, not the
date created.

Short of beginning each filename with a reverse order date (e.g. 060725 -
today's date) I don't currently see how we can do this in a Windows XP filing
environment.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

We're currently undertaking a rather large scanning project and have come up
against a bit of a brick wall. The problem is that we are unable to assign a
date to a file (e.g. a letter dated 1st July '05 scanned in will be
datestamped with today's date).

The folders we will be using to store documents will have a mixture of typed
word documents and received correspondence which will then be scanned in.
Ideally we want an easy way of putting the files in the folder in
chronological order based on the date attributed to the document, not the
date created.

Short of beginning each filename with a reverse order date (e.g. 060725 -
today's date) I don't currently see how we can do this in a Windows XP filing
environment.

I think you have the right idea: Start each file name with the date,
then sort the display by the file name.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply,

To clarify a bit - the idea of starting each filename with the date is a bit
of a "last resort" approach and if there is a way to make it so that this
information is contained within the metadata of the file or otherwise, it
would be excellent.

The ideal scenario would be that the document date was a property such as
size, type, last modified that you could easily sort by.

The other alternative is clearly to invest in some sort of document
management software but we've not had the best experience with this sort of
software in the past.

 

[Jonny]

We're currently undertaking a rather large scanning project and have come
up
against a bit of a brick wall. The problem is that we are unable to assign
a
date to a file (e.g. a letter dated 1st July '05 scanned in will be
datestamped with today's date).

The folders we will be using to store documents will have a mixture of
typed
word documents and received correspondence which will then be scanned in.
Ideally we want an easy way of putting the files in the folder in
chronological order based on the date attributed to the document, not the
date created.

Short of beginning each filename with a reverse order date (e.g. 060725 -
today's date) I don't currently see how we can do this in a Windows XP
filing
environment.

What happens when you change the date/time within XP, then start the
scanning process with the resulting file dates?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

What happens when you change the date/time within XP, then start the
scanning process with the resulting file dates?

Good idea. A more practical implementation might be to use
one of the numerous "touch" utilities that can be downloaded.
They would let you set the file date manually, regardless of
the system date.

 

[Spikey]

Good idea. A more practical implementation might be to use
one of the numerous "touch" utilities that can be downloaded.
They would let you set the file date manually, regardless of
the system date.

The other problem is that if you have to reinstall the files from back up
then their creation dates are set to the date of re-install.

Would these utilities hold the correct date in those circumstances???

At the moment I'm storing stuff that may need date searching such as
correspondence starting with reverse date so at least I can search through
by name and get a date order.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The other problem is that if you have to reinstall the files from back up
then their creation dates are set to the date of re-install.

Would these utilities hold the correct date in those circumstances???

At the moment I'm storing stuff that may need date searching such as
correspondence starting with reverse date so at least I can search through
by name and get a date order.

Most restorations from backup will maintain the original file dates.