Sort Photos and Videos by Date in Premiere Pro
Can You Sort Media in the Project Panel by Date?
Yes, you can. Here’s how:
1. Right-click the Metadata header in the Project panel and click Metadata Display. You can also open the Metadata Display window under the Project panel settings menu.
2. Search for “Creation Date” and check the box under the Basic metadata schema. Click “OK”. This metadata column will now appear in the Project panel.
3. Click the Creation Date column header to sort everything in the Project panel from the oldest date to newest or vice versa. Reorder metadata columns by dragging on the column headers.
Sorting photos and video clips in Premiere Pro by date is essential when you’re working on anything that has to be edited in chronological order. This can include documentaries, event recaps, slideshows, and so on.
Having the Creation Date metadata column in the Project panel can be especially helpful for slideshows of birthdays, graduations, weddings, retirements or memorials. In all these cases, you may really want to view your media by date.
Sort Media by Date in Icon View
In order to sort the Project panel by date in Premiere Pro, you have to be in List View. You can’t do it in Icon View or in the new Freeform View in CC 2019. However, if you sort the Project panel by Creation Date in List View first, then you can select List View Sort under the Sort Icons menu. This will sort the thumbnails in Icon View to match the current List View order.
Save Your Metadata Settings
You can keep the Creation Date metadata column in the Project panel by saving your metadata display as a new setting.
Open the Metadata Display window and click “Save Settings”.
Give your setting a name and click “OK”.
Now when you change your metadata columns or if they accidentally reset to the default columns, you can quickly recall the Creation Date by switching to your saved metadata setting.
Still Can’t Sort Sequences by Date
Unfortunately, the Creation Date setting does not apply to sequences. Which is too bad because it would be extremely helpful in finding the latest version of an edit. Especially if the sequences are poorly named! If this sounds like a good idea to you, please vote for this feature request on the Adobe Premiere Pro user voice forum.
Hope this little tip helps you stay organized in Premiere Pro. Let me know how it helps your editing workflow. Please share any tricks you have for sorting photos and videos with the Creation Date metadata setting.
