How to invite your memory with Google Photos

Memory is a delicate thing. Some of us are very good at attaching names to faces, while others (and here, I raise my hand) have always had trouble remembering names, especially when you meet someone. an out of context. For example, imagine the embarrassment when a person you know at work suddenly comes to a friend's party and you spend an hour trying to remember his name.

As a result, I am always looking for a way to put a name with a face. Some mobile apps claim to be able to contribute, but I have not found any applicable for my Android phone. (The only app that really worked for me, Evernote Hello, was removed in 2015.) However, there is an application that can help keep a faulty memory: Google Photos.

Google's photo collection application automatically groups your images into different categories, including People. The People page has a representative photo of each person in your collection. select one and you will see all the photos of that person.

What makes the People page even more useful is that each of the photos on the page can be tagged with a name. So, if you see someone at a party and you do not remember his name anymore, you can find a corner, take your phone, go to the People Photos page and slide to it. that you see their picture – and their name.

But it will only work if you first tag the individuals in your collection. It's easy, although it can take a long time, depending on the number of people appearing on your photos.

• On the main Google Photos page, click in the search field at the top.
• If you have a reasonable number of photos with people, you should see a horizontal strip with small photos. Click on the arrow to the right of the band.

• This brings you to the People page. You will see rows of square photos showing different individuals. Indeed, Google Photos collects what it believes to be pictures of the same person and chooses a representative photo.
• Select the person you want to identify. You will see all the pictures that Photos has decided to contain. Look for a link titled "Add Name" on this page (top left of the web version, top center of the mobile app).

• Select the link and start typing. Your contact list will appear, allowing you to select the person's name if it is already in your list. If not, you can simply type the name.
• Now, every time you come back to the Contacts page, the person's face will be tagged with his name.

Of course, sometimes, Photos is wrong. In this case, you can delete a photo from someone's page.

• On the page of the individual, place the cursor on the photo to delete. You will see a check box in the upper left corner of the photo. select it.
• When you have finished selecting photos, click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
• Select "Delete Photo".

You can also remove from the Contacts page any contact with anyone, for example an ex who evokes bad memories.

• In the web and mobile versions, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the People page.
• Select "Show & Hide Faces" (Web) or "Hide & Show People" (mobile).

• Select one of the people you want to delete from the People page. An icon representing an eye crossed by a line appears above the photo. When you return to the Contacts page, that person will not be there anymore.
• Do you want them to come back? Go back to this page and select the person. The icon will disappear and the person will return to your People page.

Unfortunately, some features in Google Photos are missing. For example, you can not really add All the photos on the People page of someone – you have to hope that the AI ​​photos will recognize and add all your pictures of that person. (Something that can be very frustrating.) Keep an eye out for an additional link that sometimes appears on an individual's page titled "Same or Someone else?". In this case, you can tell Photos that yes (or no), that is, a picture of that particular person.

Again, the identification and identification of many friends and associates will take time (especially if you have to search their names). And since this is Google, it's a safe bet to say that it will eventually change the features of the app (for better or for worse), or it will completely disappear. I know several people who have spent hours organizing and identifying their photos in the popular Picasa image application, but the Google owner removed them from the carpet in 2016.

But if you have trouble remembering names and want anything that might help you, try Photos.

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