Excluding Date doesn't Exclude certain dated files

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KTG
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2025 2:47 pm

Excluding Date doesn't Exclude certain dated files

Post by KTG »

Using 1.5a here I sort by date modified by default for when I'm not searching for things and there are a group of files on my system with the date 12/31/4500 none of the files are important to view so I just wanted to exclude them. However it appears I'm having issues excluding files based on their date.

I tried adding dm:4500 to the "Exclude Files:" section of the Exclude Page of the Options but to no avail I then did a simple dm:>=2100 but still none of the files were being excluded. I've tried putting today's date and adding a ! to the beginning of the exclude syntax but no luck. Putting the exclude in the simple search bar gives the wanted results, but putting any date based exclusion in the excluded files section doesn't appear to do anything. Am i doing anything particularly wrong here?
therube
Posts: 5716
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Excluding Date doesn't Exclude certain dated files

Post by therube »

I wonder if 12/31/4500 is a "non-date"?

1-1-4501 is.
https://freefilesync.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7752


And by that token, maybe
!dm:
might work ?


(Another anomaly, Why do my file creation, access, or modified time disappear if I set it to midnight on January 1, 1980?.)
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Excluding Date doesn't Exclude certain dated files

Post by void »

I tried adding dm:4500 to the "Exclude Files:"
Files cannot be excluded from your index by date modified.



A filter can be created to exclude date modified from your search:
  • From the Search menu, click add to filters....
  • Change the Name to:
    Valid Date Modified
  • Change the Search to:
    dm:<4000
  • Click OK.
Filters can be activated from the Search menu, Filter bar (View -> Filter Bar), Filter sidebar (View -> Filters), right clicking the status bar, filter macro or filter keyboard shortcut.
Filters can be organized from Search menu -> Organize filters.



To fix the date modified timestamp on these files:
  • Change the filter back to Everything.
  • Search for:
    dm:>4000
  • Select all files (Ctrl + A)
  • From the File menu, under the Advanced submenu, click Set File Time...
  • Set Date Create to: (No Change)
  • Set Date Modified to: Now
  • Set Date Accessed to: (No Change)
  • Click OK.
KTG
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2025 2:47 pm

Re: Excluding Date doesn't Exclude certain dated files

Post by KTG »

Thank you for the clarification and explanation on two ways to fix the issue! I suppose I will take the time to fix all the file dates as the filter just seems like a temporary fix. Thank you very much everything is my go to file manager!
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