diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI-full.yml b/.github/workflows/CI-full.yml
index 3123ec5744..015d38e1b5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI-full.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI-full.yml
@@ -23,14 +23,16 @@ jobs:
         sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet
         sudo rm -rf /usr/share/swift
         sudo apt-get clean
+
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-    - name: Get the VCell version from tags
-      id: version
-      run: echo ::set-output name=tag::$(echo ${GITHUB_REF:10})
-      
     - name: set global environment variables
       run: |
+        if [ "${{ github.event_name }}" = "workflow_dispatch" ]; then
+          echo "FRIENDLY_TAG=${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV   
+        else
+          echo "FRIENDLY_TAG=${GITHUB_REF:10}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        fi
         echo "VCELL_TAG=`git rev-parse --short HEAD`" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         echo "VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE=ghcr.io/virtualcell" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         echo "VCELL_DEPLOY_REMOTE_DIR=/share/apps/vcell3/deployed_github" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -118,9 +120,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: tag as latest and push to registry
       shell: bash
       run: |
-        for CONTAINER in vcell-api vcell-rest vcell-webapp-prod vcell-webapp-dev vcell-webapp-stage vcell-webapp-island vcell-batch vcell-opt vcell-clientgen vcell-data vcell-db vcell-mongo vcell-sched vcell-submit vcell-admin;\
+        for CONTAINER in vcell-exporter vcell-api vcell-rest vcell-webapp-prod vcell-webapp-dev vcell-webapp-stage vcell-webapp-island vcell-batch vcell-opt vcell-clientgen vcell-data vcell-db vcell-mongo vcell-sched vcell-submit vcell-admin;\
            do docker tag ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:${VCELL_TAG} ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:latest;\
-           docker tag ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:${VCELL_TAG} ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }};\
+           docker tag ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:${VCELL_TAG} ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER:${FRIENDLY_TAG};\
            docker push --all-tags ${VCELL_REPO_NAMESPACE}/$CONTAINER;\
         done