How do you add a tag to an item?

jeffo

Hi,

I just stumbled upon this app and downloaded the free version. I’m able to add images to an album, but I see unable to add the tags to the images.

Is this a feature that’s only available for the paid version of the software or am I dense?

Thanks!

Andrey

jeffo No, there is no limitation for this functionality in free version. You add tags just the same way as album - using context menu item “Add to…” and then either chose existing name or “New tag”. The only difference between tags and albums are that albums only exist in Tonfotos database, while information about tags is written directly to image metadata. Currently writing metadata is supported only for JPEG. So if you are trying to add tags to other file format that could be the reason why it does not work for you.

MacGuyver

Andrey, is it possible to add tags to multiple pictures at the same time? For example, how would I do this if I have Tonfotos completing face recognition and I have 30 different photos of the same person, and I want to Tag them with their name?

Andrey

MacGuyver Just like with any other file operation, you should select several files (shift+navigation keys or shift+ left click) and then do the operation. With tags it is the same. For case of a person as you described, you can go to the person’s album (on people tab), then select all images by Control+A, then apply a tag. Just remember you will need to switch to files mode from faces mode (this is done by the face button in the toolbar), otherwise you won’t see file-related commands in the context menu.

Actually most of this stuff is well explained in this video:

MacGuyver

Thanks for suggesting the video, there was a ton of helpful information within.

MacGuyver

I’m so glad you helped me to understand how I can use the face detection process to write permanent metadata into the tags of files which is not dependent on a Tonfotos database. This is in case I migrate my photo library to a different application in the future, or even in parallel with Tonfotos.

I’m concerned that a typical user will miss the very important step you mentioned: “you will need to switch to files mode from faces mode… otherwise you won’t see file-related commands in the context menu.”

Wouldn’t it be better if the context menu wasn’t dependent on being in a special mode? I’m struggling with the reasoning why files mode is the only way you would want to see this option show up in the context menu. I would have never figured this out on my own, because in my use case, I’m using the people tab to find specific people, and then using tagging to ensure that the person’s name (or other important tagging info) is permanently written to the JPG metadata.

Andrey

MacGuyver Wouldn’t it be better if the context menu wasn’t dependent on being in a special mode?

Well, this is very difficult topic. A lot of users praise Tonfotos for its simple and nice UI, but not many know how hard it is to achive that goal and what sacrifices you have to make on the way. This is very difficult balance of what to show and what to hide, you can’t just show everything otherwise it will be just a mess. So, sometimes people will miss something, that is inevitable. Our goal is to find proper balance. I can’t say we already found it, actually this is a moving target. But we listen for feedback and make notes, that is for sure.

MacGuyver

Well said. I think the interface is truly incredible in terms of its simplicity and ease of use. But it’s hiding some incredible power under the hood. I just don’t want users to miss those features. I think as long as there is clear documentation regarding the process, it’s OK. Apologies if I was too forward.

Andrey

MacGuyver There is nothing to apologise for. You are totally right, this part of UI is not that obvious, it is a tradeoff. It definitely makes sense to put more thoughts into it. Right now I have no ideas how to make it better, but it does not mean there is no better way, we just need to find it.

zincica

Hello, it would be good if a search field for tags could be added to the list of tags. Mainly because when you have thousands of tags in the list, it is very difficult to assign different tags to an image. I will write an example: I used Picassa, where I had more than 10,000 different folders, more than 1,000 different albums and almost a thousand different tags. After scanning the disk contents, tonfotos was able to load all these tags (as the only software I tested in an attempt to replace picassa), but assigning tags or organizing photos into albums is quite difficult.

Andrey

zincica We have planst to add for tags something similar as F2 function for people names. That shuld solve the problem.

Skuaboy

Loving this way better than Picassa but I used Picassa for physically tagging JPEG’s from Face Recognition on an archive with 36,000 photos - I read the post above that stated “you will need to switch to files mode from faces mode… otherwise you won’t see file-related commands in the context menu.” I am using this on my Mac but it’s not immediately obvious to me how to get into “files mode” ? What am I missing ?

Andrey

Skuaboy it is this button in the toolbar (top right corner)

I guess you haven’t watched our educational video about working with faces? That was explained there. I highly recommend waching it, as well as part 2 after it. There are lots of tips and tricks like this explained.