# MacOS Voice Memo m4a files - Recording Date
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [January 11, 2022, 10:18am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855 "2022-01-11T10:18:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bluemonkey](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bluemonkey)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 10:18am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/1 "2022-01-11T10:18:33Z")
Hi MetaHeads,
I'm posting this to general support rather than Mac as a similar issue/solution may apply to Windows and other file types as well.
So I've exported a bunch of Voice Memos from Apple's Voice Memo app but the resulting AAC m4a files contain only the memo's name ported to the Filename and Title meta and the date of recording of the voice memo is only visible in the Recording Date meta, while the Creation Date meta is the date I exported the memo.
Q1: How can I get the Recording Date meta to appear in Mp3Tag - either in the Tag Panel or as a column?
Q2: How would be the most efficient way to batch script the Recording Date meta into the Comments meta or another more readily visible meta field for a whole bunch of audios?
Thank you in advance for any and all advice.
Best,
Andrew.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 10:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/2 "2022-01-11T10:22:38Z")
See the extended tags dialogue for fields that can be found in the files and that are not OS properties.
Use the found field variable name to create further columns or tag panel fields.
To copy the contents of one tag field to another, see
> [@Actions and batch-operations](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions-and-batch-operations/967/15):
>
> How to copy one field value to another field? Example how to copy the content of the ARTIST field to the ALBUMARTIST field: Create a [new action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/2) in an existing action group or make a new action group. Action type: Format value Field: ALBUMARTIST Format string: %artist% Note: If you want to copy all possible values of a field (in case you have multiple artist fields), the internal scripting function [$meta\_sep](https://docs.mp3tag.de/scripting) can be used in the format string, e.g., $meta\_sep(artist,\\\\)
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### Author:  [@bluemonkey](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bluemonkey)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:11am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/3 "2022-01-20T07:11:43Z")
OK thanks ohrenkino!
Unfortunately the Extended Tags window only lists TITLE. So does this mean that mp3tag can not access the Recording Date field (or it's an OS property)?
I know the field exists because I downloaded a demo for another (vastly inferior) tagging app and it showed up as "Recording Date" (distinct from "Creation Date").
Here is the test file incase that helps: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-gsVIuRuDvQTtVKrgrT7ES3jULCzTOMZ](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-gsVIuRuDvQTtVKrgrT7ES3jULCzTOMZ)
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 8:41am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/4 "2022-01-20T08:41:32Z")
This is the output from [exiftool](https://exiftool.org/) for your file:
You can see many dates, but I don't detect a "Recording Date".
And yes, Mp3tag only shows TITLE in the extended tags window.
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### Author:  [@bluemonkey](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bluemonkey)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 9:04am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/5 "2022-01-20T09:04:14Z")
ok wow, thanks LyricsLover.
So the other tagging tool is obviously renaming one of these fields to "Recording Date"
So the field I need to access in mp3tag for action and batch operation would be any of the 3x "Create" fields [Quicktime] / [Track1] or the "Date/Time Original" field [UserData].
Is this possible?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/6 "2022-01-20T12:12:48Z")
> [@bluemonkey](#):
>
> So the field I need to access in mp3tag for action and batch operation would be any of the 3x "Create" fields [Quicktime] / [Track1] or the "Date/Time Original" field [UserData].
No, I don't think so. The only addressable dates are the OS properties.
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### Author:  [@bluemonkey](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bluemonkey)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2022, 4:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/7 "2022-01-21T04:19:59Z")
Bummer. Looks like I'll have to buy the other tag editor just for this task: [https://www.fireebok.com/media-meta.html](https://www.fireebok.com/media-meta.html)
Thanks for all your help. I have emailed Florian in case he can contribute further.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/8 "2022-01-21T06:44:45Z")
Have you considered to transform the files to a different format and perhaps that process saves that date in e.g. RELEASETIME?
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2022, 8:31am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/9 "2022-01-22T08:31:38Z")
I've not experimented myself, but throwing this out as an idea: would it be possible to export the recording date to a text file using exiftool and re-import to the comment field?
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/10 "2022-01-22T14:55:12Z")
It is perfectly possible. š
I wrote a little windows batch file that can be called as Tool from Mp3tag.
It exports the `QUICKTIME Created Date` into a textfile for all \*.m4a in the directory of the selected file in Mp3tag. The Divider between filename and the exported data is `++` and has to be used in Mp3tag Convert Textfile -\> Tag like this:
The exported date would be imported into a new tag QUICKTIME\_CREATEDDATE.
You can name this tag whatever you like.
The content of the exported file looks like this:
The content of the batch cmd file can be adjusted in every text editor, especially the path to your `exiftool.exe` and - if needed - also the tagname that should be exported and the export file name.
```auto
SET MyExifTool="C:\temp\Recording Date Mac\exiftool.exe"
SET MyTagToExport=QUICKTIME:CreateDate
SET MyExportFileName=ExportQTCreateDate.txt
REM Path without quotes
SET MyPath=%~1
REM Path without trailing backslash
IF %MyPath:~-1%==\ SET MyPath=%MyPath:~0,-1%
%MyExifTool% -m -%MyTagToExport% -p "${filepath;s/\//\\/g}++$%MyTagToExport%" -r -if "$%MyTagToExport%" -ext m4a "%MyPath%" >> "%MyPath%\%MyExportFileName%"
```
[ExportQTCreatedDate.zip](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/short-url/iJ4NRvmUtvFRWFuKowxVLLcJ0FN.zip) (428 Bytes)
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### Author:  [@Crissov](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Crissov)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/11 "2022-01-22T23:04:18Z")
JFTR and judging from the Exiftool screenshot only, _Date/Time Original_ in UserData is apparently the `date` metadata box/atom, containing a string. The other dates are stored as numbers in the respective headers.
[https://www.exiftool.org/TagNames/QuickTime.html#UserData](https://www.exiftool.org/TagNames/QuickTime.html#UserData)
Iām not sure why Apple isnāt using `Ā©day` (āContent Create Dateā) here, but itās not unreasonable to ask for (read-only?) support for [`date`](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp4-felder-atom-box-in-anderer-software/48614/4) in Mp3tag.
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### Author:  [@phos](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/phos)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2022, 9:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/12 "2022-06-22T09:51:51Z")
Hi everyone, I ran into the same problem with Apples Voice memos - indeed quite annoying that on export the file creation and modified date is actually the time when the export took place. I tried out above method with the batch script and then creating a custom label in mp3tag, though this still does not show in a standard windows system window. So, after first checking the Tags in exiftool -g -k (g stands for group headings, basically showing the type of tag and -k keeps exiftool command window open after execution) , then following the first example for file renaming on the [https://exiftool.org/](https://exiftool.org/) and checking TAGS naming in the reference pdf , I came up with the following : exiftool "-FILE:FileCreateDate\
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/macos-voice-memo-m4a-files-recording-date/55855/13 "2026-02-09T12:29:37Z")