How to identify and troubleshoot issues with plug-ins in Photoshop.

Luminar 2018 As A Photoshop Plug In
How To Install Luminar 2018 As A Plugin For Mac

Note:

The icon next to a piece of text in the content below indicates new information for the Photoshop CC 2015.5 release.

Everything in Luminar is built for your convenience. Over 35 custom filters help you enhance and change the look of your photos in all possible ways. And the range is impressive: from classic Tone & Exposure, to Bi-Color, Photo Filter Emulation, Cross-Processing and dozens of others. Installing Luminar 2018 as a Plug-In. As I continue to explore the new software called Luminar 2018 from Skylum, one of the first things I did was install it as plug-in to Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop (both from the Adobe subscription plan).

Luminar 2018 will become available in November 2017, and in 2018 a free update will provide a new image-browser / digital asset manager to help photographers manage their image libraries. Photographers will be able to sort, rate, organize, and backup their photos at great speed.

Overview of issues caused by defective or incompatible plug-ins

If you're experiencing any of the following issues, the cause could be a defective or incompatible plug-in:

Error: 'Could not load the [Plug-in Name] module because it does not work with this version of Photoshop.'
Missing file formats in the Save or Save As dialogs.
Unexplained freezes or crashes on launch or while using Photoshop
Image rendering issues after running a plug-in
Slow performance while launching or using Photoshop
Plug-in commands don't show up correctly in Photoshop's menus

You may experience an issue with a plug-in for any of these reasons:

The plug-in was designed for a different version of Photoshop and is not compatible with your current version
The plug-in was installed incompletely or incorrectly
More than one version of the same plug-in is installed
A plug-in file has become damaged

If you've updated Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop still does not recognize your camera, see Why doesn’t my version of Photoshop or Lightroom support my camera?

If you're not able to successfully update the Camera Raw plug-in, see Camera Raw plug-in installer.

Here are some good general guidelines to follow with third-party plug-ins to avoid problems:

Never:

Manually drag plug-ins from a previous version of Photoshop’s plug-ins folder to your current version’s Photoshop Plug-Ins folder.

Always:

Check the plug-in manufacturer’s website for the latest version of your plug-in. Downloading an updated version will often fix plug-in issues.
Use the manufacturer’s plug-in installer to install (or re-install) their plug-ins.

Luminar 2018 As A Photoshop Plug In

Note:

In the past, third-party plug-ins using their own installation mechanism weren’t automatically moved or synchronized between major Photoshop versions (such as Photoshop CC 2014 to Photoshop CC 2015 release).

For CC 2015.5 and later, in order to minimize the need for reinstallation between major versions, we've asked developers to start installing into a shared Creative Cloud location. Please reinstall/update your 3rd party plug-ins for to use the Shared Creative Cloud Location so third-party plug-ins are automatically loaded between major versions.

Note:

Beginning with the October 2018 release of Photoshop CC (version 20.0), the 32-bit version of Windows is no longer supported. If you have a 64-bit version of Windows and require a 32-bit version of Photoshop for compatibility with legacy plug-ins or device drivers, you can download 32-bit version of Photoshop 2018.

Note:

On Mac OS, Photoshop is a 64-bit only application and 32-bit plug-ins are no longer supported. Contact the plug-in vendor to obtain an update for 64-bit support of the plug-in. Or, keep your previous version of Photoshop installed to run legacy 32-bit plug-ins.

Ensure you have the latest updates for your plug-ins

Check the plug-in manufacturer’s website for the latest version of your plug-in. Downloading an updated version will often fix plug-in issues.
Use the manufacturer’s plug-in installer to install (or re-install) their plug-ins.

To quickly determine whether Photoshop is loading a problematic optional or third-party plug-in, do the following:

Hold down the Shift key and launch Photoshop. A dialog appears during launch that reads “Skip loading optional and third-party plug-ins?”

Click Yes to skip loading optional and third-party plug-ins.

Note:

This disables optional and third-party plug-ins only for the current session. If you quit and restart Photoshop without holding down the Shift key, the optional or third-party plug-ins will be enabled.

If the problem recurs, an installed optional or third-party plug-in is not causing the problem. Close Photoshop and then restart it without holding the Shift key to re-enable all the optional and third-party plug-ins. Skip the remaining steps in this section.

If the problem does not recur, an optional or third-party plug-in is causing the problem. To identify specific problematic plug-ins:

Move one plug-in from Photoshop’s Plug-ins folder to a temporary location (for example, a new folder on your desktop).

Note:

See Locate plug-in folders for the locations of the Photoshop plug-in folders.

Start Photoshop and then try to re-create the problem.

Do one of the following:

If the problem recurs, repeat steps 1 through 3.
If the problem does not recur, the plug-in that you last removed is causing the problem. Remove or disable this plug-in permanently and then contact its publisher for support or for information about an updated plug-in version. Reinstall or re-enable the non-problematic optional and third-party plug-ins that you removed or disabled.

Start Photoshop and then try to re-create the problem.

To permanently disable a plug-in, use one or more of these methods:

Remove the plug-in from Photoshop’s Plug-ins folder to a temporary location that is outside of Photoshop’s Plug-ins folders (for example, to a new folder on your desktop).
Rename each of the problematic plug-in files so that the filename begins with a tilde (~). Photoshop does not load files that begin with a tilde.
Follow the uninstall/removal instructions provided by each plug-in’s publisher.

How To Install Luminar 2018 As A Plugin For Mac

Third-party and optional plug-ins can be installed to one of two locations:

Version specific location - which will only load the installed plug-in for a specific version of Photoshop (e.g. only Photoshop CC 2014)
Shared Creative Cloud Location - which will load the plug-in for all installed versions of Photoshop without having to reinstall the plug-in

If you installed to the Photoshop version specific location, the Photoshop Plug-Ins folder is located here:

Hard DriveProgram FilesAdobe[Photoshop version]Plug-ins

If you installed to the shared Creative Cloud location, the Plug-Ins folder is located here:

Hard DriveProgram FilesCommon FilesAdobePlug-InsCC

Additionally, the Camera Raw plug-in is located in a common plug-ins folder, which Photoshop, Bridge, and Photoshop Elements share:

Hard DriveProgram FilesCommon FilesAdobePlug-Ins[Photoshop version number]

If you installed to the Photoshop version specific location, the Photoshop Plug-Ins folder is located here:

Hard Drive/Applications/[Photoshop version]/Plug-ins

If you installed to the shared Creative Cloud location, the Plug-Ins folder is located here:

Hard Drive/Librar