use EXIF date for date field

[FrAnksch]

Can anybody give me a script that reads the EXIF date of a photo (used in field “photo”) and puts this date to an separate field “date”?

I want the entries to be ordered by the date of the photos, that are used in the records.

THABK YOU!

[Daniel Leu]

Following field script should do the trick. It assumes that the field name is photo. Don’t forget to set the return type of the field script to date.

function First_Photo_Date() {
    // set field name according to your form
    var photo_id = form.getFieldNamed('photo').getId();

    // get attached photos
    const photos = record.getFieldValue(photo_id);

    // get first photo's date
    const photoExif = photos[0].getExifData(photos[0]);
    const photoDate = photoExif['DateTimeOriginal'];

    // handle Exif date format
    const [datePart, timePart] = photoDate.split(" ");
    const [year, month, day] = datePart.split(":").map(Number);
    const [hour, minute, second] = timePart.split(":").map(Number);

    // create date object
    const date = new Date(year, month - 1, day, hour, minute, second);
    
    return date;
}

First_Photo_Date();

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[FrAnksch]

Thank you so much for your help, Daniel!

I copied your script into a script-field “EXIF-date” and used the fields “photo” as source and “date” as target.

Unfortunately I get the following error:

EXIFdate: TypeError: photos[0].getExifData is not a function. (In ‘photos[0].getExifData(photos[0])’, ‘photos[0].getExifData’ is undefined), line:(null)

My photo has definitely EXIF data.

Am I doing something wrong or is there anything with the code?

btw: I´m on TF5 on iOS 26.5 and macOS Tahoe 26.2 (if this is relevant)

Thank you!

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by FrAnksch.

[Daniel Leu]

Oh, my apologies. Tap Forms 5 doesn’t expose the photo metadata, so this script won’t be able to help you. Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for you either.

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[FrAnksch]

No Problem, but thanks again for your efforts!
I also just realized that photos, that I save back to camera roll from Tap Forms, are without EXIF data.
So is this a problem of TF 5 or of TF in general. Would “TF Pro” work and handle EXIF?

Thanks

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by FrAnksch.

[Daniel Leu]

My script works with Tap Forms Pro. Here’s an example using my script showing just the EXIF data of an iPhone image:

5/19/26, 11:19:12 AM / new form / First photo date
{
    "WhiteBalance": 0,
    "PixelYDimension": 640,
    "LensMake": "Apple",
    "OffsetTimeOriginal": "-07:00",
    "MeteringMode": 3,
    "ColorSpace": 1,
    "LensModel": "iPhone 13 Pro back triple camera 5.7mm f/1.5",
    "DateTimeDigitized": "2026:05:16 20:00:32",
    "ExposureProgram": 2,
    "OffsetTimeDigitized": "-07:00",
    "ExifVersion": [
        2,
        3,
        2
    ],
    "SubsecTimeDigitized": "392",
    "ExposureBiasValue": 0,
    "ISOSpeedRatings": [
        100
    ],
    "LensSpecification": [
        1.5700000524520874,
        9,
        1.5,
        2.799999952316284
    ],
    "Flash": 16,
    "SubsecTime": "392",
    "CompositeImage": 2,
    "DigitalZoomRatio": 3,
    "SceneType": 1,
    "ApertureValue": 1.1699250021066825,
    "BrightnessValue": 2.820906607251797,
    "DateTimeOriginal": "2026:05:16 20:00:32",
    "FocalLength": 5.7,
    "ExposureMode": 0,
    "SensingMethod": 2,
    "FNumber": 1.5,
    "OffsetTime": "-07:00",
    "PixelXDimension": 480,
    "ShutterSpeedValue": 5.906515543357788,
    "FocalLenIn35mmFilm": 77,
    "SubjectArea": [
        1685,
        1265,
        747,
        735
    ],
    "SubsecTimeOriginal": "392",
    "ExposureTime": 0.016666666666666666
}

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[Brendan]

Hi Frank,

Yes, as Daniel has demonstrated, Tap Forms Pro does support EXIF data in images.

Thanks for helping Daniel!

Brendan

[FrAnksch]

Thanks for confirming. Now I´ll have to consider to change….

[Author]

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