Paint.NET: How to install plugins
You can add plugins to the free image editing tool Paint.NET. We show you how to install them in our practical tip.
Install additional plugins in Paint.NET
- First find a suitable plug-in on the Internet and download it - for example the "Paint.NET PSD plug-in" with which you can open Photoshop files.
- The corresponding downloads are usually ZIP files. Extract this first to get the included DLL file.
- Then copy this file into the installation directory of Paint.NET. You can find this by default under "C: \ Program Files \ paint.net \".
- There are different folders here, each for different types of plugins. Copy a plugin like the PSD file extension into the "FileTypes" folder. On the other hand, you have to place a filter plugin in the "Effects" folder.
- The next time you start Paint.NET, the tool will automatically load the plugins and you can use them.
These instructions refer to Paint.NET version 4.0.1 under Windows 8.1. If you have not yet edited many images, we will show you the most important entry-level functions of Paint.NET on the next page.