How to tag records

By adding a tag you agree to the conditions below and to the user participation terms and conditions. If you breach the conditions The National Archives reserves the right to delete the tag.

All tags are made public and searchable and are displayed on the relevant details page.

What makes a useful and appropriate tag?

Tags are not transcriptions of historical documents. They are used to improve current descriptions to help users to find information so we ask you to use accessible language.

Tags must not contain:

  1. any personal information relating to you
  2. information about living people without their written consent or in breach of the Data Protection Act
  3. information on closed records to which an exemption under Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information regulations may apply
  4. comments or discussions about closed records or access arrangements to closed records; contact the FOI centre to request access

We use a spam and profanity filter to manage spam words. If you want to enter a valid tag which is being rejected, please contact us on discovery@nationalarchives.gov.uk to ask an administrator to review the filter terms.

We recommend that you including additional information for:

  1. Homonyms: words with the same spelling but different meanings, such as seal (mammal) and seal (wax)
  2. Synonyms: a word or phrase that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another, such as ‘war’ and ‘conflict’
  3. People and places: ‘london’, 'london (ontario, canada)' and 'london (christmas island, kiribati)'

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Make sure you are signed in. If you are signed in to your registered account, your username will be shown in the top right of the screen. If you have problems signing in please contact us on discovery@nationalarchives.gov.uk
  2. Find a record you wish to tag. You can search or browse to find individual records.
  3. Add your tags. On records details pages you can see an option to 'Add a tag' and any existing tags for that record. Simply enter a tag and click 'submit'. You can add as many tags as you like.
  4. Review your tags. Please be aware that tags will be saved and displayed in lowercase letters to maintain standardisation and consistency.

What makes a useful and appropriate tag?

  • Tags can be single words or phrases of between two and 100 characters in length
  • Tags must be in English
  • You can use only alphanumeric characters and round brackets, commas and hyphens (anything else will be rejected)
  • Tags must be relevant and appropriate - they must relate to the entry tagged
  • Tags must not be offensive or illegal

We use a spam and profanity filter to manage spam words and if you want to enter a valid tag which is being rejected please use the feedback form to ask an administrator to review the filter terms.

The tag will be saved and displayed in lowercase letters to maintain standardisation and consistency. We recommend that you add additional tags for homonyms (words that have the same spellings but different meanings such as seal (mammal) and seal (wax)), synonyms (words and phrases that have the same meaning but are spelt different - 'war' and 'conflict') and people and places with the same spellings ('London', 'London (Ontario, Canada)' and 'London (Christmas Island, Kiribati)'). All tags are made public and searchable and are displayed on the relevant details page.

Amend your tags

There are two ways to amend a tag. If you are on the details page you will need to delete the tag and then add a new one.

Alternatively, go to your list of tags via your account page and you can rename the tag. Please note that this will rename all instances where you have used the tag.

Delete your tags

If you are signed in you can delete any tags you have created from the relevant details page by clicking on the 'delete' icon (which looks like an ‘x’) displayed against your tag.

See your existing tags

When you are signed in, click on 'Your tags' at the top of the page. You can also see your tags from your account page by clicking on 'Your tags'.

You can see what our other users have contributed in our ‘Browse tags’ section. You can search existing tags to see what records they have been added to, browse an alphabetical list of tags, and see the most popular and the most recently added tags. To protect our users' privacy you cannot see who has added any tags.

What do I do if I find and inappropriate or inaccurate tag?

You cannot delete or amend tags that someone else has created.

To request the removal of an incorrect or inappropriate tag, please click on the 'flag’ icon that appears next to tags. You’ll have to complete a short form to explain why you think it should be removed.

You are welcome to add your own tags to improve the description.

If you find a mistake in the record description please click on the “found an error” link.

Are tags moderated?

We aim to view all newly added tags to check that they do not breach the code of conduct. We cannot check that they are correct if they have been applied correctly.