How to Properly Sort Your Photos by Date

Follow the steps and sort photos by date

By Sagar Naresh

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Updated in July 19, 2023

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Windows 11 brought many new features and redesigned original apps such as Photo app. The Photos app has undergone a significant overhaul. You can sort all your photos based on different criteria.

In this guide, we’ll give you the steps you need to follow to help you sort photos by date. Let us check the guide and understand how you can sort photos by date.

How does Windows sort images by default?

By default, Windows sorts your photos by alphabetical name in ascending order. This means that images with the letter A or number 1 will appear first and so on.

It’s quite inconvenient if you’re downloading images because if they’re not named correctly, they can get lost among the thousands of images you have in that folder.

We’ve introduced two different ways to sort your photos by date. The first method can be useful for times when you just want to sort photos by date in a folder. The second method will help sort photos by date within the Windows Photos app.

How do I sort my photos by date?

1. Sort photos by date within a folder

1. Open the folder where you want to sort all the photos by date.
2. Right-click on an empty area inside the folder, select sort byand press on date.
3. You can further sort your photos by selecting Costs or going down. Choosing one of them will do the following:
   • Costs – The most recently taken photo will appear first
   • going down – The oldest photo will appear first
4. After your selection, all your photos will appear by date, in ascending or descending order.
5. If you click more, you’ll get a list of options to help sort photos better.
6. Scroll down and you will see a number date Sorting options such as Date Rate, Date Accessed, Date Purchased, Date Archived, Date Ended, Date Created, Date Last Saved, Date Modified, Date Received, Date Released, Date Sent, Date Takenand Date of visit.
7. You can click on any of your favorite options and have them appear within the Sort By option in the context menu.

Sorting photos by date helps you make the photos you clicked most recently appear first and you get to view the most recent photos.

Moreover, if you go in reverse, you can see the oldest photos first. Choosing a different date sorting option helps you get a personalized sorting result.

2. Sort photos by date in the Photos app

1. Turn on the Photos application.
2. Select the folder from the left pane that you would like to sort by date.
3. Tap on Type A button that looks like two arrows in the opposite direction to each other.
4. You will see different date sorting options;
   • Date taken
   • Production date
   • different date
5. Once you click on your preferred option, your photos will be sorted.

This way, you can easily sort photos in your Photos app based on date. The process is quite easy, and you can also import the files you want to sort by clicking the import button at the top.

What to do if the Photos app does not sort photos?

1. Update the Photos app

1. Tap on Win key to open the start menu.
2. Type Microsoft Store and open it.
3. Press on library on the bottom left.
4. Check whether there is a new update available for the Photos app or not. If so, then update it.

You should make sure that all the apps on your computer are up to date to avoid any problems. If you encounter any problems with the Photos app, please update the app as it may bring fixes from the previous version.

2. Reset the Photos app

1. Tap on Win + I am Keys to open Definitions menu.
2. choose applications from the left pane.
3. choose Installed apps.
4. Find the Photos app, click on 3 points menu and select advanced options.
5. Scroll down and select initialization.

Resetting the app will help you resolve any issues that may be triggered due to corrupted internal files or missing files.

That’s it from us in this guide. We’ve shown you the different methods that will help you sort photos by date in File Explorer as well as in the Photos app.

In case you’re interested in AI, we’ve got a list of the best AI photo enhancers that will help you upgrade any of your old or blurry photos without losing quality.

We also have a guide that explains in detail how to sort photos by favorites on Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs.

Let us know in the comments below if the above method helped you sort photos by date on your computer or not.