Windows 10: Sorting by modification date doesn't work for folders that have content modified in subfolders

I have a lot of folders with subfolders in them. When I edit files in subfolders, it doesn't change modification dates of mother folders. So their time order remains same.

:)

 

"Date Modified" of folder containing subfolders

Hi,

All that is being asked for here is how Windows works ie how it is meant to work. jaygourley isn't asking about corrupt file systems or putting forward a suggestion. Please just answer the question, somebody!

I have the same question. I add a file to a folder, say 'photos from 2017' Its date modified is updated...as you'd expect, because its contents have changed. 'photos from 2017' lives as a subfolder of 'All My Photos'. 'All My Photos's date modified does
not change when the file is added to 'photos from 2017', presumably because it still has the same contents as before...the list of files and folders within 'All My Photos' are the same ones, even if the modified date for 'photos from 2017' has changed.

This is logical in one sense, but not always what's wanted.

So the question is...can behaviour be changed (system-wide or per-folder) so that the date modified for 'All My Photos' reflects the date *anything* within it, right down to the bottom of the file tree, gets modified (ie a file is changed and saved, or a
subfolder gets a file added or deleted). So I know just from looking at the Date Modified for 'All My Photos' if something was added/changed/deleted somewhere within its tree. Or is there another attribute other than 'Date Modified' that would show this?

Ian

 

"Date Modified" of folder containing subfolders

I observe that on my Windows 10 computers, the File Explorer "date modified" field in details view of a folder with subfolders sometimes reflects the most recent modification date of a file in any subfolder down to any subfolder level. And sometimes it
doesn't. I can find both conditions among folders on the same Windows computer.

On individual files, the "date modified" is always exactly what I would expect it to be. So this post only applies to "date modified" for folders. So what is "date modified" on a folder supposed to mean? And is there a Windows setting that controls this
on a per-folder basis?

Not having a "date modified" that represents the last date any file in that folder's subfolder was modified is a big nuisance. Not even knowing what the date I see represents is an even bigger nuisance.

There are some other threads on this forum that address this, but I believe they are mostly outdated and without answers.

 

How Does Date Modified work for Folders in Windows Explorer

The creation and modification dates of a parent folder typically do not change when the contents of a child folder are modified because the file system attributes associated with a folder usually represent the properties of the folder itself rather than the properties of the files or subfolders within it. The file system treats the parent folder and its contents as distinct entities, and changes within the child folder do not directly impact the metadata of the parent folder.



When files or subfolders within the parent folder are modified, the file system updates their respective attributes, such as their individual modification dates. However, these changes do not inherently affect the parent folder's metadata.

Just the way it works....