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Adding face>drag to a photo in Photos app not working

This issue was raised by EngSF a while back. I have been getting it since I upgraded to Big Sur. I have just bought a new M1 MacBook Pro, which has Monterey installed, and the problem has continued.


I select a photo, select Get Info, press the + sign and get the ring to enable me to name a person. However, I am unable to move the circle but find that it tried to move the whole of the picture. Therefore unless the Photos app automatically identifies a face (which it might do if I leave it running long enough) I am unable to manually identify any people in any of my photos

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 22, 2021 12:15 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 23, 2021 10:57 AM

A work-around: If you cannot move or resize the faces circle, but it stays dead-center, type first the name into the name field below the circle. When I do that and the circle has a name assigned, I can usually drag the circle to the correct position and adjust the size. Sometimes it will also help to quit Photos and restart it. But I prefer to enter the name first, and only then to center the circle around the correct face.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 23, 2021 10:57 AM in response to Geoff_Hawke

A work-around: If you cannot move or resize the faces circle, but it stays dead-center, type first the name into the name field below the circle. When I do that and the circle has a name assigned, I can usually drag the circle to the correct position and adjust the size. Sometimes it will also help to quit Photos and restart it. But I prefer to enter the name first, and only then to center the circle around the correct face.


Nov 23, 2021 10:19 AM in response to Geoff_Hawke

Hello Geoff_Hawke.


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities and for sharing these details with us. It sounds like you're unable to manually identify a person. The Photos app won't let you drag the circle to the correct face. We can understand how this would be an issue. It does sound like you're using the options to manually identify a person correctly, as mentioned in this resource below:


Find and identify photos of people using Photos on Mac - Apple Support


Review the section under "Manually identify and name people in a photo". If the Photos app automatically identities a person, you won't be able to move that specific face circle. Only the ones you've manually added yourself. If you're unable to successfully move the face circle that you've manually added, try restarting the Photos app and your Mac as well to see if that helps:


How to force an app to quit on your Mac - Apple Support

Shut down or restart your Mac - Apple Support


Another troubleshooting steps that might be able to help you, is safe mode. This is a great troubleshooting step to try. If you're not familiar on how to start up in safe mode, check out the resource below:


How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Feel free to keep us posted on your results. Cheers.

Adding face>drag to a photo in Photos app not working

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