Dating Tasks

Folder Dater performs the following dating tasks

• Set modified date by most recently modified descendantThe descendants are examined and the modification date of the target folder is set to the modified date of its most recently modified descendant. Likewise descendant folders have their modified times set according to their descendants.
  After this dating task is performed a Date Modified sort in the Finder will list folders in the order their descendants have been modified.
• Set creation date by least recently created descendantThe descendants are examined and the creation date of the target folder is set to the creation date of its least recently created descendant. Likewise descendant folders have their creation times set according to their descendants.
  After this dating task is performed a Date Created sort in the Finder will list folders in the order their descendants were created.
• Set modified date by most recently added descendantThe descendants are examined and the modification date of the target folder is set to the added date of its most added modified descendant. Likewise descendant folders have their modified times set according to their descendants. This choice is only enabled for target folders on HFS volumes as OS X does not maintain date added details for other volume kinds (e.g. FAT, NTFS).
  After this dating task is performed a Date Added sort in the Finder will list folders in the order their descendants have been added.
• Custom datingFor more esoteric cases the custom dating task may be selected. This allows one of of the 12 permutations of setting the modified/creation date by the most/least recently modified/created/added descendant; according to the choices selected in the menus.

Notes

If a folder is dated by both of the first two methods (performed in either order) then switching between Date Modified and Date Created ordering in the Finder allows folders to be shown either according to the order their descendants were created or most recently modified.

Setting the modification date by the most recently added descendant gives the closest to the “natural” modification time of a folder. By default a folder’s modification time is set when an item is added or removed; however any application, such as Folder Dater, examing the filesystem after-the-fact cannot determine exact removal times so cannot reproduce the “natural” modification time of a folder. However using breadcrumbs the original (before any Folder Dater tasks change it) modification time of a folder can be preserved and later restored.