Photo Organization and Tagging

Photos are the visual record of every inspection. nSpec lets you attach photos to observations, action items, specimens, and report content, and it gives you several ways to keep them organized: captions, building/floor metadata, photo tags, and an image editor. This article explains how photos work in nSpec, where to add them, how to tag them, and how to find them again later.

Where Photos Live

Photos are always attached to a parent item — they don't exist on their own. Each parent type has its own photo slots:

• Observations — Up to 4 photos per observation
• Draft observations — Up to 4 photos per draft
• Action items — Up to 4 photos per action item
• Specimens — Up to 4 photos per specimen (water test reports)
• Report content — Up to 4 photos per dynamic content item
• Inspection general info — Schedule Site Map, Site Map Key, Tracking Table

The Photos tab on the inspection screen shows every photo from every parent type in one view, so you can browse and search them all at once without drilling into each item individually.

Adding Photos to an Item

Every modal that supports photos has the same upload UI: 4 image slots, a folder button to pick from your device, a camera button for quick capture, and an image editor button for crop/rotate.

1. Open the Add or Edit modal for the item you want to attach photos to
2. Click the Add Photos folder button (or the camera button for live capture)
3. Select up to 4 images
4. For each image, optionally fill in:
   • Caption — A short description of what the photo shows
   • Building — Which building from the project's building options
   • Floor — Which floor from the project's floor options
   • Elevation — North, South, East, or West
   • Photo Tags — Multi-select tags from your tenant's tag list
5. Click Save on the parent modal

Captions

Every photo can have a caption. Captions appear on the published report beneath the image, so write them as if a stranger will read them — describe what the photo shows, not just where it was taken.

Good captions:

• "Cracked tile in master bathroom shower wall, north corner"
• "Missing sealant at window-to-wall joint, level 3 east elevation"

Less useful captions:

• "Bathroom"
• "IMG_4521"

Don't want to type every caption? nSpec can draft them for you with AI — either as you upload in Quick Capture or in bulk from the Photos tab. AI-written captions get a small AI badge, and editing one marks it as human-written. See AI Photo Captions for the full workflow.

Building, Floor, Elevation

These three fields tell nSpec where in the project the photo was taken. They're optional, but filling them in lets you filter and organize photos later — and they appear in the report next to the photo.

• Building — Picks from the project's Building Options. Configure these in the Edit Project modal so the dropdown shows your actual buildings, not generic placeholders.
• Floor — Picks from the project's Floor Options. Same idea — configure these per project.
• Elevation — North, South, East, or West. Useful for exterior inspections.

See Managing Projects in nSpec for how to set up Building Options and Floor Options.

Photo Tags (Conditions)

Photo tags — also called Conditions in the Manual Image Tagger — are a tenant-wide labeling system for marking photos with categorical labels like "Cracking", "Spalling", "Water Damage", or "Reference Photo". Tags make it easier to filter large photo libraries and they feed directly into training data for the AI detection models.

Tag Scope and Management

• Tenant-wide — the same tag list applies across every project in your tenant, not per-project.
• Shared across all tenant types — NSPEC, Procore, and SuperClear-only tenants all use the same tag system.
• Managed centrally. The list of available tags is maintained by the NXT backend team, not through an in-app admin screen. To add, rename, or remove a tag for your tenant, email [e-mail] with your request.

Why centralized? Consistent tags across the whole tenant keep the AI training data clean. A free-for-all tag list would create duplicates like "crack", "Cracks", and "Cracking" — all meaning the same thing but splitting the training set. Centralized management is how we protect detection quality.

Applying Tags to Photos

You can attach tags to photos in two ways:

Inline on observation / action item photos

1. Open an Add or Edit Observation / Action Item modal
2. Expand the photo's Details section
3. Click the Photo Tags multi-select dropdown
4. Search for a tag and click to apply it — repeat for each tag that applies
5. Click Save on the parent item to persist

Bulk tagging with the Manual Image Tagger

If your role has the Access Manual Tagger permission, you can apply tags across many photos at once:

1. Open the Manual Image Tagger from the sidebar
2. Select one or more projects
3. Pick a tag from the Conditions Chosen dropdown
4. Toggle Include Tagged if you want to re-tag photos that already have tags
5. Click Search to load matching photos
6. Check the boxes next to photos that fit the selected condition
7. Click Submit to apply the tag in bulk

For the full Manual Image Tagger workflow, see Manual Image Tagger.

What Tags Are Used For

• Filtering — narrow the Photos tab to a specific condition when scanning dozens or hundreds of photos
• AI training datasets — SuperClear AI uses tagged photos as labeled training data. Consistent tagging directly improves detection accuracy.
• Visual triage — quickly see which photos document which condition types without reading every caption

Best Practices for Tagging

• Use every tag that applies. A photo of a cracked wall might warrant both "Cracking" and "Structural" — tag it with both.
• Use "Reference Photo" for context shots. Photos that aren't documenting a specific condition (wide shots of the building, nameplate photos, etc.) should be tagged as "Reference Photo" so they don't end up in AI training by mistake.
• Don't invent tags. If you need a tag that doesn't exist, request it from support — don't improvise with a caption. The tag list is controlled for good reason.
• Tag as you go. Tagging during the observation workflow takes seconds. Coming back later to tag hundreds of untagged photos is a slog.

Annotating Photos

Every photo has an Edit button that opens a full annotation tool — the Image Editor. Use it to draw arrows, boxes, text labels, ellipses, and freehand lines on your photos to highlight defects or call out specific items for the report.

The Image Editor has seven drawing tools, a color picker, stroke size slider, zoom, undo/redo, and full keyboard shortcut support. For a complete reference including every tool, shortcut, and best practice, see Annotating Photos with the Image Editor.

The Photos Tab

The Photos tab on the inspection screen aggregates every photo across the inspection in one place. Use it to:

• Browse all photos at once
• Search by caption
• Filter by source (Observations, Action Items, etc.)
• Filter by building, floor, or photo tag
• Open the full-size image gallery
• Edit captions or tags without going back to the parent item

Best Practices

• Caption every photo — Even a few words is better than nothing. Future you (and the client) will thank you.
• Set Building/Floor when relevant — Especially for multi-story or multi-building sites, this turns "find that photo" from impossible to one click
• Use photo tags consistently — Talk to your team about which tags to use for which conditions, so the same finding gets the same tag every time
• Use the image editor sparingly — Crop and rotate are fine; over-editing photos can make reports look amateurish
• Watch your photo count — Each parent can hold up to 4 photos. If you need more, create additional observations or action items
• Take advantage of Quick Capture for batches — see Quick Capture and Batch Photos

Troubleshooting

Photo upload is stuck or takes forever

Solutions:

• Check your internet connection — slow networks make uploads crawl
• Large photos take longer. Resize before upload if individual files are over 5 MB.
• If you're on cellular, switch to Wi-Fi if available
• See Photo Upload Issues for the full troubleshooting list

Building or Floor dropdown is empty

Solutions:

• The project doesn't have Building Options or Floor Options configured. Open the project edit form and add them.

No photo tags appear in the dropdown

Solutions:

• Your tenant doesn't have any photo tags configured yet. Ask your administrator to add them.

Related Articles

• AI Photo Captions
• Annotating Photos with the Image Editor
• Working with Inspections in nSpec
• Quick Capture and Batch Photos
• Draft Observations
• Photo Upload Issues
• Managing Projects in nSpec — for setting Building/Floor options

---

Need help? Contact our support team at [e-mail]