Why is Mark Face sometimes grayed out in the Elements Organizer 2020 lower ribbon?

Report · Sep 22, 2023

When viewing some of my photos in Elements Organizer 2020, the Mark Face button on the lower ribbon is grayed out (non-functional). This is not the case with other photos, and sometimes when I switch away from the photo where it is grayed out and then come back to it, the Mark Face button is now working. Can you help with this problem?

Report · Sep 22, 2023

Are you in Full Screen View for the photo you want to mark?

The only time that the Mark Face is greyed out for me in FSV is if I have a video selected. Are you possibly trying to mark a face in a Live Photo from an iPhone?

Please show us a screenshot of the Mark Face button being greyed out for you.

Added: And since the button does work if you leave and return to the image, this may simply be a computer resources issue. What are the specs of your computer and monitor?

Report · Sep 24, 2023

Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not trying to mark a face in a video or a Live Photo from an iPhone. Here's a screenshot of the greyed-out Mark Face button:

My computer is a desktop PC with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100 CPU @ 3.70GHz processor and 16 GB of RAM, running Windows 10. My monitor is an LG HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) connected to an Intel HD Graphics 530 card.

Report · Sep 24, 2023

I've never seen this problem before. I'm wondering whether there is a process that is happening in the background that is interfering with the Mark Face feature. For example, if this is happening after a recent import of photos, there could be some media analysis taking place that is temporarily interfering. I say this because the faces in your photo should be recognized automatically. Do you have People Recognition turned on in the View menu? Has Face Recognition been completed on your image?

To test my theory, try going to Edit>Preferences>Media-Analysis and uncheck all of the boxes. Reboot and see whether the problem continues to occur.

Report · Sep 27, 2023

No, it didn't help to uncheck all the boxes and reboot. I do have People Recognition turned on. In some cases the program recognizes one face in a picture but not another, and the greyed-out Mark Face button won't allow me to mark the unrecognized face.

I've also noticed that, if the program recognizes a face and asks "Is this (Jane Doe)?" and I hit the x button indicating that it's not that person, the program doens't respond right away. I can hit the x several times and it still keeps asking the same question, but if I wait anywhere from several seconds to several minutes, it finally accepts that it's the wrong person and asks me to add the name.

Report · Sep 27, 2023

@Newmountain said: I've also noticed that, if the program recognizes a face and asks "Is this (Jane Doe)?" and I hit the x button indicating that it's not that person, the program doens't respond right away. I can hit the x several times and it still keeps asking the same question, but if I wait anywhere from several seconds to several minutes, it finally accepts that it's the wrong person and asks me to add the name.

That is a known issue. But, as I said, I have never seen the greyed out Mark Face button mentioned before.

Personally, I tend to use the UnNamed People tab to identify faces. There really is no reason (for me) to see a marked face in a stack. So, my only suggestion would be to simply click and drag a People tag to the image. This will allow you to use the search mechanisms to find images of that person even though there will only be a generic icon for the face in the People stacks.

Report · Sep 28, 2023

Okay, thanks Greg for your help and advice - much appreciated.