How To...?

 

HOW AND WHERE TO COPY PLUG-INS FILES  (*.py and *.exe):

WINDOWS USERS:

Python installation:
- Python usually gets installed with gimp (option during gimp installation).

- GIMP 2.8: Copy appropriate files in:
    Vista and later     c:\Users\[USER]\.gimp-2.8\plug-ins
    XP and older         c:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\.gimp-2.8\plug-ins
- GIMP 2.10: Copy appropriate files in:
    Vista and later     c:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\plug-ins
- Portable Samj:
    X:\Gimp-2.10.30_Portable_32-64bit-Win\Preferences\plug-ins    
- PortableApps:
    X:\GIMPPortable\Data\.gimp\plug-ins
    
   USER - Your 'name' from the login to the system
{your_id}   
   X - stands for the USB drive letter

LINUX USERS:

Python installation:
-
Python2 usually doesn't come with the operating system, so manual installation is required. 
 
 - GIMP 2.8: Copy appropriate files in:
    /home/[USER]/.gimp-2.8/plug-ins
- GIMP 2.10: Copy appropriate files in:
    /home/[USER]/.config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins/
- Make sure .py file is marked as executable.

IN OSX:
 
 /Users/[USER]/Library/GIMP/2.10/ or possibly /Users/[USER]/Library/Application Support/GIMP/2.10/ (this could depend on the GIMP build you use). (a.k.a. NSApplicationSupportDirectory/GIMP/2.10)
 
 
If you don’t find it in the locations above

    If you are on Linux or OSX, keep in mind that the leading dot in the name makes many tools “omit” to display it, so you may have to explicitly ask your file explorer to display hidden files to navigate to it.
    On all systems (and especially Windows versions), it can be elsewhere for several reasons, for instance because the user profile has been moved to another partition/drive (especially with “roaming” users).

Here are two tricks to find it (they both assume that GIMP can run):

Trick #1

    Edit → Preferences and open the Folders tree in the left pane of the dialog.
    If you click on any of the folders (for instance, Plug-ins ), the right pane will normally display  folders:  


Trick #2
  • Open Filters/Python-fu/Console
  • Enter this: print gimp.directory and strike [Enter]

 
When to use the GIMP profile

Your GIMP profile is the right place to install additional material (scripts, plugins, brushes, palettes, fonts, gradients…). It is a much better place than the system GIMP installation folder:

    Installing things there will not require admin privileges
    The additional items will not be wiped out by a GIMP re-installation
    They are more likely to be backed up since they are part of the user’s data

Repairing the GIMP profile

GIMP Startup failures can be caused by profile problems. In that case it is pointless to re-install GIMP, since the re-installed version will re-use the existing profile and therefore fail in the same way.

It is usually much more efficient to just rename the profile (to 2.10.disabled, for instance) and restart GIMP. GIMP will recreate a new profile directory on startup, which should fix any problems.

You can then copy your add-ons subdirectories to the new profile, checking periodically that GIMP will still start with that modified profile.