ImageTagger Support

The image formats macOS can read, including JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF and the RAW files of most cameras (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2, DNG and others).

Add them with File › Add Images… (⌘O), by dragging images or folders onto the window or the Dock icon, or with Open With › ImageTagger in Finder. Folders are searched with all their subfolders.

In the photo’s keywords, the field that Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Bridge, Spotlight and Windows show as keywords or tags. They’re written to XMP dc:subject, and to the legacy IPTC keywords too when the file already has them.

• JPEG, HEIC and TIFF images get the keywords in the file. The image data is copied as is, without being compressed again.
• RAW images get an XMP sidecar file with the same name, for example IMG_1234.xmp for IMG_1234.CR2.
• PNG images are left unchanged, because macOS can’t save keywords to them.

Save the tags of the selected image with File › Save Tags to File (⌘S), or of every image with File › Save Tags to All Images… (⌥⌘S).

No. RAW files are never modified: their keywords are saved to an XMP sidecar next to them. If a sidecar already exists, only its keywords are updated, and its other metadata, like the develop settings of your photo editor, is kept. A sidecar that can’t be read is never replaced.

No. The tags are added to the keywords already in the file, and tags that are already there, in any capitalization, aren’t added again. ImageTagger never removes keywords.

Lightroom Classic reads keywords from the files when it imports photos. For photos that are already in your catalog, select them and choose Metadata › Read Metadata from Files. This replaces the metadata in the catalog with the metadata in the files.

Lightroom reads the metadata of DNG files from the DNG itself, so it doesn’t see the sidecars of DNG files.

Yes. Choose ImageTagger › Settings… and turn on Save tags to image files automatically. Each image’s tags are then saved as soon as it’s analyzed.

Choose Hashtags under Format in the inspector, then copy the tags with the Copy Tags button, Edit › Copy Tags (⇧⌘C), or ⌘C in the sidebar. Multi-word tags are joined, so no people becomes #nopeople. Tags can also be separated by commas or spaces, and the format you choose is remembered.

The imagetagger command comes with the app from the download on GitHub. The Mac App Store version doesn’t include it, because Mac App Store apps can only contain sandboxed code, and a sandboxed command couldn’t read the photos in the Terminal’s current folder.

Choose ImageTagger › Install Command Line Tool… and run the command it shows in the Terminal. It links the imagetagger command into /usr/local/bin:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -sf /Applications/ImageTagger.app/Contents/Helpers/imagetagger /usr/local/bin/imagetagger

Then run it in a folder of photos. It tags the images in the folder and its subfolders, and saves the tags like the app does:

cd ~/Pictures/Trip
imagetagger                                    # Tag the images and save the tags
imagetagger --dry-run                          # Only print the tags
imagetagger --format hashtags IMG_1234.jpg Edits/

Run imagetagger --help to see all the options. The command uses the model in the app, so if you move the app, install the command again.

The tags are predicted by a deep learning model that knows 1,708 keywords, so they’re suggestions. Unusual subjects, or keywords the model doesn’t know, can give unexpected tags. Check them before you save them to your files.

No. Photos are analyzed on your Mac, and the app doesn’t connect to the internet. ImageTagger doesn’t collect any data. See the privacy policy.

A Mac with Apple silicon or an Intel processor, running macOS 26.5 or later.