Dates missing from my digiKam database

[Gilles Caulier]

In fact this depend of multiple parameters.

What I don't understand is why the data is not populated in the
database. If date of shoot cannot be taken from the file metadata
there is a fail back to the file system date. So typically the date
must be populated in all cases in the database.

I recommend creating a small collection for testing and to populate a
small database with it. You must reproduce the problem. If yes,
capture the debug trace from a terminal to see where the problem is.
Look instructions here :

https://www.digikam.org/contribute/#freezes-and-other-run-time-issues

Best regards

Gilles Caulier

Le jeu. 16 juil. 2026 à 03:31, Randolph M. Fritz <rmfritz3 at gmail.com> a écrit :
>
> I've got the "Write to item and XMP Sidecar" setting turned on—is that OK?
>
> Dates don't seem to be mentioned in the Advanced Metadata panel; do I need to add them?
> --
> Randolph M. Fritz || rmfritz3 at gmail.com
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 11:16 AM Gilles Caulier <caulier.gilles at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Yes the metadata sync to repopulate the date in the database.
>>
>> But the most important point is to know where to take the date in
>> metadata in your case. There is a advanced metadata panel in digiKam
>> where you can customize that. Another point is to know if the XMP
>> sidecar option need to be turned on.
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Gilles Caulier
>>
>> Le mer. 15 juil. 2026 à 17:46, Randolph M. Fritz <rmfritz3 at gmail.com> a écrit :
>> >
>> > Thanks. I've been using mySQL internal which, at least on the Mac, is in fact Maria.
>> >
>> > Which option of the maintenance tool should I use? The metadata synchronizer? Or some other option?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Randolph M. Fritz || rmfritz3 at gmail.com
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 4:51 AM Gilles Caulier <caulier.gilles at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Migrating the databases without dates will not solve the problem. The
>> >> items are not re-scanned.
>> >>
>> >> Try to run the maintenance tool and be forced to scan all items.
>> >>
>> >> Note: MySQL has diverged from MariaDB in terms of compatibility,
>> >> particularly with the latest versions of MySQL. We strongly recommend
>> >> using MariaDB instead of MySQL.
>> >>
>> >> Best regards
>> >>
>> >> Gilles Caulier
>> >>
>> >> Le mer. 15 juil. 2026 à 07:20, Randolph M. Fritz <rmfritz3 at gmail.com> a écrit :
>> >> >
>> >> > Since no-one replied, I ran the migration and…nothing happened. It didn't change the database in settings, and the dates didn't reappear. Do I have to rebuild the database from scratch? How do I even do that?
>> >> > --
>> >> > Randolph M. Fritz || rmfritz3 at gmail.com
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Sun, Jul 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM Randolph M. Fritz <rmfritz3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Or at least, the dates don’t show up in the “Dates” view.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> It’s an internal mySQL database. Is there any easy way to repair this? Or would it be better just to migrate to SQLite? (I have 653 GB of image files.)
>> >> >>>
>> >> >>> digiKam: 9.1.0
>> >> >>> KDE Frameworks: 6.26.0
>> >> >>> Qt: Using 6.11.0 and built against 6.11.0
>> >> >>> macOS Sequoia (15.7.7)
>> >> >>> Build ABI: arm64-little_endian-lp64
>> >> >>> Kernel: darwin 24.6.0
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> Randolph M. Fritz || rmfritz3 at gmail.com
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >