---
title: How does PhotoStructure populate the Who tag?
url: https://photostructure.com/guide/people/
description: How PhotoStructure extracts people from face regions, Google Takeout, and metadata
date: 2026-04-14
keywords: face-tags, tags, metadata, sidecars
---


PhotoStructure's **Who** tag root is populated automatically from face
metadata your camera, photo editor, or backup tool already wrote. You
don't tag people in PhotoStructure today — you tag them in
Picasa, digiKam, Adobe Lightroom, Apple Photos, Google Photos, or your
preferred face-tagging tool, and PhotoStructure imports those names
on sync.

{{< note >}}
For details on how names are parsed into hierarchies (e.g.
`Who/Einstein/Albert` instead of `Who/Albert Einstein`), see the
[name parsing guide](/guide/name-parsing/).
{{< /note >}}

## 👤 People from face regions

Most face-tagging tools write region metadata following the
[MWG 2.0 Regions](https://exiftool.org/TagNames/MWG.html#Regions)
standard. PhotoStructure reads any `RegionList` array containing
entries with `Type: "Face"` and uses the `Name` field:

```json
{
  "RegionInfo": {
    "RegionList": [
      {
        "Name": "Joe Bloggs",
        "Type": "Face",
        "Area": {
          "X": 0.36,
          "Y": 0.29,
          "W": 0.13,
          "H": 0.18,
          "Unit": "normalized"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

This is what Picasa, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom Classic, digiKam,
and many other tools write. The `tagFaceRegions` setting controls
whether PhotoStructure reads them (default: enabled).

## 📦 People from Google Takeout

Google Photos exports include a `people` array (some exports use the
singular `person`) in the per-photo JSON sidecars:

```json
{
  "people": [{ "name": "Alice Smith" }, { "name": "Bob Jones" }]
}
```

PhotoStructure reads these by default. The `tagJsonFaces` setting
controls whether they are imported. See the
[Google Takeout guide](/guide/takeout/) for the full Takeout import
flow.

## 🏷️ People from other tag fields

Some tools write person names to dedicated metadata fields rather
than face regions. PhotoStructure also reads these (configurable via
the `whoTags` setting), defaulting to:

- `People`
- `PersonInImage`
- `PersonInImageWDetails.PersonName`
- `PersonInImageName`
- `RegionInfoMP.Regions.PersonDisplayName` _(Microsoft RegionInfo, used by Windows Live Photo Gallery)_

If your tool writes person names to a different field, add it to
`whoTags` and the next sync will pick them up.

## 💡 Tips

- **Editing sidecars works.** Adding or renaming a face region in an
  XMP sidecar and resyncing will update the Who tag in
  PhotoStructure.
- **Name parsing is configurable.** PhotoStructure can split names
  into family/given hierarchies, handle international name orders,
  and apply default family names — see the [name parsing
  guide](/guide/name-parsing/).
- **Pets count.** If your face-tagging tool tags pets as faces,
  they show up under Who too.

## See also

- [Name parsing](/guide/name-parsing/) — formatters, name order, international names
- [Google Takeout](/guide/takeout/) — full import details for Google Photos exports
- [Keywords](/guide/keywords/) — how PhotoStructure handles keyword metadata (separate from face tags)