diff --git a/js/mzta-utils.js b/js/mzta-utils.js
index 12904797..366cce44 100644
--- a/js/mzta-utils.js
+++ b/js/mzta-utils.js
@@ -350,14 +350,42 @@ export async function createTag(tag) {
   }
 }
 
-export function checkIfTagExists(tag, tags_list) {
-  return tags_list.hasOwnProperty("$ta-" + sanitizeString(tag)); 
+// export function checkIfTagExists(tag, tags_list) {
+//   console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> checkIfTagExists tags_list: " + JSON.stringify(tags_list));
+//   console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> checkIfTagExists tag: " + tag);
+//   return tags_list.hasOwnProperty("$ta-" + sanitizeString(tag)); 
+// }
+
+export function checkIfTagLabelExists(tag_label, tags_list) {
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> checkIfTagExists tags_list: " + JSON.stringify(tags_list));
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> checkIfTagExists tag_label: " + tag_label);
+  const lowerTagLabel = tag_label.toLowerCase();
+  return Object.values(tags_list).some(label => label.tag.toLowerCase() === lowerTagLabel);
 }
 
+// export async function assignTagsToMessage(messageId, tags) {
+//   console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> assignTagsToMessage messageId: tags: " + JSON.stringify(tags));
+//   tags = tags.map(tag => `$ta-${sanitizeString(tag)}`);
+//   let msg_prop = await browser.messages.get(messageId);
+//   tags = tags.concat(msg_prop.tags || []);
+//   try {
+//     return browser.messages.update(messageId, {tags: tags});
+//   } catch (error) {
+//     console.error('[ThunderAI] Error assigning tag [messageId: ', messageId, ' - tag: ', tag, ']:', error);
+//   }
+// }
+
 export async function assignTagsToMessage(messageId, tags) {
-  tags = tags.map(tag => `$ta-${sanitizeString(tag)}`);
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> assignTagsToMessage tags: " + JSON.stringify(tags));
+  let all_tags_list = await getTagsList();
+  all_tags_list = all_tags_list[1];
+  tags = getTagsKeyFromLabel(tags, all_tags_list);
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> assignTagsToMessage tags after conversion: " + JSON.stringify(tags));
   let msg_prop = await browser.messages.get(messageId);
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> assignTagsToMessage msg_prop.tags: " + JSON.stringify(msg_prop.tags));
   tags = tags.concat(msg_prop.tags || []);
+  tags = [...new Set(tags)];
+  console.log(">>>>>>>>>>> assignTagsToMessage tags after concat: " + JSON.stringify(tags));
   try {
     return browser.messages.update(messageId, {tags: tags});
   } catch (error) {
@@ -365,6 +393,22 @@ export async function assignTagsToMessage(messageId, tags) {
   }
 }
 
+function getTagsKeyFromLabel(tag_names, all_tags_list) {
+  const result = [];
+
+  tag_names.forEach(name => {
+    const lowerName = name.toLowerCase();
+    const match = Object.entries(all_tags_list).find(
+      ([, value]) => value.tag.toLowerCase() === lowerName
+    );
+    if (match) {
+      result.push(match[0]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  return result;
+}
+
 function sanitizeString(input) {
   input = input.toLowerCase();
   // Define the regex to match valid characters
diff --git a/mzta-background.js b/mzta-background.js
index 27b24601..2513ae37 100644
--- a/mzta-background.js
+++ b/mzta-background.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { mzta_script } from './js/mzta-chatgpt.js';
 import { prefs_default } from './options/mzta-options-default.js';
 import { mzta_Menus } from './js/mzta-menus.js';
 import { taLogger } from './js/mzta-logger.js';
-import { getCurrentIdentity, getOriginalBody, replaceBody, setBody, i18nConditionalGet, generateCallID, migrateCustomPromptsStorage, migrateDefaultPromptsPropStorage, getGPTWebModelString, getTagsList, createTag, assignTagsToMessage, checkIfTagExists, getActiveSpecialPromptsIDs, checkSparksPresence, getMessages, getMailBody, extractJsonObject, contextMenuID_AddTags, contextMenuID_Spamfilter, sanitizeChatGPTModelData, sanitizeChatGPTWebCustomData, stripHtmlKeepLines } from './js/mzta-utils.js';
+import { getCurrentIdentity, getOriginalBody, replaceBody, setBody, i18nConditionalGet, generateCallID, migrateCustomPromptsStorage, migrateDefaultPromptsPropStorage, getGPTWebModelString, getTagsList, createTag, assignTagsToMessage, checkIfTagLabelExists, getActiveSpecialPromptsIDs, checkSparksPresence, getMessages, getMailBody, extractJsonObject, contextMenuID_AddTags, contextMenuID_Spamfilter, sanitizeChatGPTModelData, sanitizeChatGPTWebCustomData, stripHtmlKeepLines } from './js/mzta-utils.js';
 import { taPromptUtils } from './js/mzta-utils-prompt.js';
 import { mzta_specialCommand } from './js/mzta-special-commands.js';
 import { getSpamFilterPrompt } from './js/mzta-prompts.js';
@@ -161,8 +161,8 @@ async function _assign_tags(_data, create_new_tags = true) {
     taLog.log("assign_tags data: " + JSON.stringify(_data));
     let new_tags = [];
     for (const tag of _data.tags) {
-        // console.log(">>>>>>>>>>>>>>> tag: " + tag);
-        if (create_new_tags && !checkIfTagExists(tag, all_tags_list)) {
+        // console.log(">>>>>>>>>>>>>>> tag: " + JSON.stringify(tag));
+        if (create_new_tags && !checkIfTagLabelExists(tag, all_tags_list)) {
             taLog.log("Creating tag: " + tag);
             await createTag(tag);
         }