How To Install Photoshop Plugins in IrfanView

Most of namesuppressed's graphic effects plugins work with IrfanView, a free image editor program. This is great if you don't want to buy an expensive program, like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. This page will show you how to use namesuppressed's Photoshop plugins with Irfanview.

What you'll need

Before we begin, make sure that you've downloaded the following programs to your computer. You don't have to have installed them yet.

How To Install IrfanView - 7 Simple Steps

All set? Now we need to install the program:

  1. Find the Irfanview installer file on your computer. It will be called something like iview390.exe (eg if you've downloaded version 3.90 of IrfanView).

  2. Double click the installer file to run the installer.





  3. Now you get to choose some installer settings. We suggest you use the settings in the screenshot below - create a shortcut on the Desktop and in the Start Menu, install the program "For All Users", and set the Destination Folder to C:\Program Files\IrfanView. You can change these settings if you prefer. When you've chosen your settings, click the Next > button.





  4. On the following screen, just click the button labelled Next >. You don't have to read this page, it's not even a licence agreement or anything that needs your attention.

  5. The next screen is a bit confusing - it's asking if you would like IrfanView to run whenever you double click certain image files. We suggest you don't do this, so click the button labelled None. Then click on the button labelled Next >.





  6. Now we're ready to install the program! So just click the Next > button when you get to the next screen.

  7. That's it! IrfanView is now installed on your computer, so click the button labelled Done to close the installer program.

Install the IrfanView Plugins Pack in 3 Easy Steps

This part is really easy:

  1. Remember the files we downloaded at the start? We now need to find the Irfanview Plugins Pack installer file. It's called something like Irfanview-all_plugins.exe. When you find the file, double click on it to run the installer program.



  2. The next screen tells you it will install all the IrfanView plugins on your computer... but we already knew that, so just click the Next > button.

  3. And after a couple of seconds, it's all done! Just click the OK button and it's all finished. I told you it was easy!

Running IrfanView and setting up plugins

  1. Now we want to run the IrfanView program. But sometimes it doesn't appear in your Start Menu. So, try looking on your desktop for the IrfanView icon and double click it.

    If you don't find the icon on your desktop, try looking in your C:\Program Files\IrfanView folder for a program called i_view32.exe. Double click on this file to run the program.

  2. Choose Open from the File menu, then find an image file to open. This can be a BMP file, a GIF or JPG, or lots of other kinds of images.





  3. Now press Ctrl-K to bring up the Adobe 8BF Filters window. You can do this by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and tapping the K key. Alternatively, you can choose Adobe 8BF Filters from the Image -> Effects menu.

  4. This window will show all the plugins you have setup to work with IrfanView. So far we haven't set up any, so click the button labelled Add 8BF Filters to setup our first one.





  5. Choose a Photoshop Plugin filter you've installed (eg namesuppressed's Plaid Lite plugin) and find the folder where you installed it. Then click the OK button.





  6. If everything went to plan, you should now see the name of the plugin in the left of the window. If you want to run the plugin now, click on the plugin name (eg Plaid Lite), then click the Start Selected Filter button.





  7. That's all there is to it! Next time you want to run a plugin filter, just press Ctrl-K on the keyboard, click on the plugin name with the mouse, and click Start Selected Filter.

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