PhotoMove 2.5.4 Release Notes – Updates and Changes

This is a feature release which includes

• Preview before and Undo after Copy/Move (Free and Pro)
• Custom Folder Naming. Create and choose your own output folder structure. (Pro)
• Google Takeout dates – Supports using actual dates from your Google Photos Takeout JSON file when the EXIF date is missing. With Pro you can insert the actual date into the file’s metadata so other programs can see the correct date taken and the sidecar files are not needed any longer. (Free and Pro)

— still one job on Windows, unlimited Free sorting, and no cloud account required.

PhotoMove Free still sorts unlimited photos by date. Pro keeps duplicate and no-EXIF power, and now adds custom folder templates plus optional Takeout date write-back into the file.

Google Takeout / Sidecar Date Recovery

When the EXIF or media date is missing or unusable, PhotoMove can read a
sibling Google Takeout JSON file (for example photoTakenTime)
and use that date for Find → Copy/Move folder placement.

• Free: Sort, copy, and move using JSON dates when EXIF is
  missing.
• Pro: Optional checkbox to write the recovered date back
  into the file’s metadata so other programs can see the correct date taken.
• UI: “Use Google Takeout JSON dates when EXIF date is
  missing” (default On).

Sorting a local Takeout extract on your PC is not the same
as deleting photos from Google Photos online or cleaning Google Drive sync
folders. PhotoMove only works on the files you point it at.

More detail:
Google Photos Takeout and PhotoMove — how dates really work.

Pro Custom Folder Templates

Pro can choose Custom… folder structure with a token
template — for example
{YYYY}/{YYYY}-{MM}/{YYYY}-{MM}-{DD} — plus
{YY}, {MM}, {DD},
{Month}, {Camera}, and {Sep}.
{City} is reserved and empty for now.

• {Sep}: Follows your Options separator choice (underscore /
  dashes / none).
• Free: Custom appears as Pro-only (upsell), not a broken
  control.
• Separator behavior lives in Options (lower right). Token details:
  PhotoMove Custom Folder Structure.

Also in This Release

• Reliability: Safer append/logging when output text files
  are open in another program, plus other defensive stability work shipped
  with this drop.
• Clearer update prompt: Names what’s new in 2.5.4 so you know
  why an update is offered.
• Drive-root safety: Warnings when Source or Destination is
  a drive root (especially the system drive), with stronger confirmations
  before Move.

Stability Patch 2.5.3.2

This update addresses a specific command-line automation bug and adds deeper crash protection for invalid folder paths and network drops.

• Command Line Automation Fix: Fixed an order-of-operations bug where running PhotoMove via command line with the /c (auto-execute) switch would trigger the copy process a fraction of a second before loading your saved application settings. Automated tasks will now properly respect your duplicate handling and folder structure preferences.
• Invalid Path Crash Protection: Added strict “fail-fast” validation to the Source and Destination text boxes. Accidentally pasting corrupted paths or illegal Windows characters (like | or >) will now gracefully alert you to fix the typo instead of causing an application crash.
• Fixed Startup Dependency Crash: Addressed an issue (“Could not load file or assembly ‘Ookii.Dialogs.WinForms…’”) on some Windows machines. The installer now explicitly includes every required DLL with no overlapping copies.
• Network & Cloud Drive Resilience: Fixed a hard crash (“The network path was not found”) that occurred if a NAS, OneDrive, or Google Drive folder temporarily dropped its connection mid-scan. PhotoMove now safely skips the disconnected path and continues scanning.

Faster Engine & Global Compatibility (2.5.3.x)

• Native High-Speed EXIF Engine: PhotoMove now uses a
  modern, high-speed, in-memory engine to read photo dates. This
  dramatically speeds up folder scanning, stops antivirus false-positives,
  and eliminates those annoying black command prompt windows flashing on
  your screen.
• International Filename Support: Added support for files
  with accents, Cyrillic, Chinese, or other non-Latin characters (e.g.,
  Käfer_Château_Níño.jpg). PhotoMove now fully supports global
  UTF-8 encoding everywhere.

A Modern, Smoother Experience

• Modern Folder Picker: PhotoMove now uses the modern
  Windows dialog, meaning your Quick Access pins, Network Drives, OneDrive,
  Dropbox, and Google Drive folders are instantly available. You can even
  paste folder paths directly into the address bar.
• Interactive Report Windows: Lists of valid/invalid files
  and your Summary Report now use clean, interactive data grids. The columns
  automatically resize to fit long file paths, and you can sort data by
  clicking the headers.
• Double-Click to Open: By popular demand, you can now
  double-click any row inside the reports to instantly open that specific
  photo or video in your default Windows viewer.
• Flawless Spreadsheet Export: The “Copy to Clipboard”
  button has been rewritten to use pure tab-separated text. You can now
  cleanly paste your PhotoMove reports directly into Excel or Google Sheets
  without messy formatting issues.

Quieter, Smarter Error Handling

• No More Annoying Pop-ups: Previously, if the program hit
  a protected Windows folder or a permission issue, it would interrupt your
  scan with a message box. Now, PhotoMove handles these silently. It logs
  the issues quietly in the background and automatically opens the error log
  in Notepad only after the scan finishes.
• Automated Crash Reporting: If the program ever encounters
  an unexpected Windows crash (a real bug), it will safely catch the error
  and ask you on your next startup if you’d like to send the log directly to
  me. This makes it much easier for me to squash bugs quickly.
• Robust Copying: “Access Denied” errors during copying are
  a thing of the past. PhotoMove now proactively creates deep folder
  structures on the fly and intelligently handles “Read-Only” locks on old
  files before overwriting.

Previous Stability Fixes (2.5.3.1)

• Overlapping Folder Protection: Added a new safety
  mechanism that prevents users from accidentally setting their Destination
  folder inside their Source folder. This eliminates the “infinite loop”
  effect where files were repeatedly moved into subfolders of themselves.
• Android Camera Model Fix: Fixed a bug where certain
  Android phone models (such as the “Fairphone (Gen. 6)”) were parsed
  incorrectly in the Pro version filtering list boxes. PhotoMove now
  perfectly handles complex device names containing multiple parentheses.
• Auto-Updater Reliability: Completely rebuilt the
  background auto-updater logic to prevent “false positive” update prompts
  caused by local routers or internet service providers caching old version
  files.
• Improved Filter Interface: Improved the behavior of the
  Valid/Invalid Exif filtering listboxes. If a user accidentally unchecks
  all file extensions or camera models, the program will now immediately
  alert them instead of silently running a blank, zero-file scan.