People (Faces) won't update on newly imported photos

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Level 1

28 points

People (Faces) won't update on newly imported photos

Photos won't recognize and update the faces on newly imported images with faces of people already in the "peoples library" (for lack of better word, but I hope you know what I mean). Photos also won't update newly added faces to the "peoples library" of old photos. Photos says it doesn't seem to be any more photos of the person, but there is. Hundreds of them.

I've tried having the Mac on over the night and the day, but nothing happens even though the app runs in the background.

How can I force start a face sync or make it start over?

All suggestions are very appreciated!

I'm using the MacBook Pro 16" (late 2019), OS X Catalina 10.15.4, Photos 5.0 (141.19.150).

MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 29, 2020 2:36 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Apr 29, 2020 7:41 AM in response to valmont74

If photos cannot recognise the person, it will group the faces in a new people album, that remains hidden. You have to help Photos to get his hidden album paired with the existing album of the correct person. Add a name to one of the faces, then swipe down to the details section and open the album for this face. Now try again to use "confirm additional faces" for this person. If you have hit the jackpot, there will be now many additional faces for this person to confirm.

I noticed in my library, that Photos 5 does not name the clearly recognised faces, if there is a conflict in one of the photos. Photos 5 cannot assign the same name to two different people in the same photo. If Photos assigned the name Minnie to the face of Mickey, it is now stuck and cannot name Minnie in the same photo "Minnie" and no further photos of Minnie will be named. . In such cases it helps to check the automatically assigned names and to correct mismatched automatically assigned names. Then Photos will be able to name further photos automatically.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Apr 29, 2020 6:20 AM in response to valmont74

Are there circles around the faces of the people in the newly imported photos? Make sure, that you have enabled "Show face Names" in the View menu in Photos.

Photos can only recognise faces, if the faces are clearly visible, not covered by a face mask or scarf, and the resolution is high and the lighting good. Try to find photos, where Photos should have recognised faces and look for circles around the faces. If there are circles, type a name into the name field below the circle to add the person to the People album. Photos may have detected the faces, but recognised the faces as a different person and merged the photos into the wrong album.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Apr 29, 2020 10:28 AM in response to valmont74

You can only open the hidden albums for each person separately. If you see a photo with a face, that is not in the People album, but has a circled face, swipe down, click the faces thumbnail in the "Details" section" and the album will open. In the album go down to the bottom of the album. There should be an option "Add to People album".

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Answer 4

valmont74 Author

Level 1

28 points

Apr 29, 2020 6:55 AM in response to léonie

Yes, I have "show face names" turned on. These are proper photos, no masks, scarfs or low resolution, and Photos have recognized faces from similar photos before - and even less professional photos. When I type a name of a known face under the circle the name get added to the correct face but Photos won't search through the other newly imported photos. Adding a name manually to every photo isn't the way to go.

I know it can take Photos a while to face scan through a library, but I started this almost two weeks ago and no faces recognized so far. It isn't supposed to take that long.

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Answer 5

valmont74 Author

Level 1

28 points

Apr 29, 2020 9:52 AM in response to léonie

Is there a way to open this hidden album with all the un-confirmed faces on the same page (just like the people page), then I could easily and quicker go through all of them and assign them to the confirmed faces?

Now it's a little bit like searching through the library and when I see something that looks odd, open it, name it and move on. That's regarding older photos. Newly imported ones did go quicker.

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Answer 6

valmont74 Author

Level 1

28 points

Apr 29, 2020 8:44 AM in response to léonie

Now I think we're on to something. Some of the new (and old photos of existing faces) showed up. I'll click around a little and keep my fingers crossed! Thank you!

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People (Faces) won't update on newly imported photos

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