Photo Editor

#What it is

The Photo Editor is Octoolo's layered photo editor for Windows, built to work like Photoshop: layers and groups, masks, clipping, Photoshop's 27 blend modes, 15 adjustment layers, 17 live filters, layer styles, retouching brushes, text and shapes, selections, crop and free transform. It opens and saves Photoshop (PSD) files with their layers and has its own project format (.ophoto). Its AI tools (remove background, select subject, select an object, remove things, lift an object, upscale 2× or 4×) run on the PC after a one-time download, with no account and no credits. It also resizes, converts and compresses many pictures at once and reads the text in a picture. Everything runs on the PC; pictures are never uploaded. The editor draws with the graphics card (WebGPU); on a PC where that is not possible it opens a simpler editor instead (see "The simple Photo Editor").

#Opening it and what it costs

The Photo Editor is in the Create group of Octoolo's home screen. The home screen's search finds it by name and by words such as "photoshop", "remove background", "psd" or "crop", and opens it on the task that matches. Its address inside Octoolo is #/app/photo, a task's #/app/photo/<task id> (for example #/app/photo/image-remove-bg), and Octoolo.exe --open=app/photo/<task id> opens it from a command line or shortcut.

The Photo Editor needs Octoolo Cloud (the subscription) or its free trial; it is not one of the free apps. Prices, the trial and the free apps are in Prices and limits.

Windows does not open .ophoto or .psd files in Octoolo by double-click: Octoolo does not register itself for those file types. Open them from the Photo Editor (Open a file, or drag the file onto the window).

#The window

When no picture is open, the Photo Editor shows its start screen: Open a file, Start something new (Any size, plus Instagram post, Instagram portrait, Story / Reel / TikTok, YouTube thumbnail, Full HD 1920 × 1080 and A4), Many pictures at once (Resize pictures, Convert pictures, Make pictures smaller, Read the text in a picture) and Recent (the last 10 pictures opened with Open a file and projects saved here; exported pictures and files dropped on the window are not added; files that no longer exist are greyed out). A picture dropped anywhere on the window opens.

With a picture open, the Photo Editor has:

• the title bar with the menus File, Edit, Image, Layer, Select, Filter, View, AI and Help, and the Export button. Next to the name it says "kept as you work" (changed since it was opened or saved as a project; exporting a picture does not change this) or "saved";
• the options bar under it, with the current tool's settings;
• the tools down the left, with the Foreground color and Background color wells and Swap colors (X);
• the canvas;
• on the right, the Properties panel above and the Layers and History tabs below (drag the line between them to share the room);
• the status line: the zoom (type a percentage and press Enter), Fit, 100%, the picture's size in pixels, how much memory its pixels take ("N MB of pixels"), and the graphics card's name with the time the last frame took.

The first time it opens, a tip says that Photoshop's shortcuts work and that Ctrl+/ finds any command by name.

#Tasks

Every task of the Photo Editor works in version 0.8.0. Opening a task from the home screen opens the Photo Editor with a tip and, where it fits, the right tool. A task done in a dialog (Image size…, Canvas size…, Export) opens that dialog only when a picture is already open; otherwise open the picture first and follow the tip.

• Resize image (image-resize): Image › Image size… (Ctrl+Alt+I), or pick a size in Export. Many pictures: File › Many pictures at once… › Resize.
• Compress image (image-compress): Export, choose JPG or WebP and lower Quality; the dialog shows "about N KB/MB" as you go. Many pictures: Many pictures at once… › Make smaller.
• Rotate & flip image (image-rotate): Image › Rotate (90° either way, 180°, flip the canvas). The Crop tool (C) straightens a tilted photo with its Angle.
• Adjust colors (image-filters): Image › Adjustments, or the New adjustment or filter button at the bottom of the Layers panel: Light & color, Black & White, Curves and more, all editable later. Image › Auto tone and color (Ctrl+Shift+L) does it in one go.
• Remove photo metadata (image-strip-metadata): Export never writes the photo's hidden data (place, camera, date). Many pictures: Many pictures at once… › Convert with the format Same.
• Round corners (image-round): a rectangle shape with a Corner radius used as a clipping mask, or an ellipse selection turned into a mask; then export as PNG (steps below).
• Add border (image-border): Image › Canvas size… larger, then a color fill layer below the photo (steps below).
• Crop image (image-crop): the Crop tool (C): drag the corners, pick a shape, press Enter.
• Remove background (image-remove-bg): Layer › Remove background (AI), or Remove background in Properties: the background is hidden by a mask you can touch up.
• Upscale image (image-upscale): Image › Upscale 2× (AI) or Upscale 4× (AI).
• Watermark image (image-watermark): the Text tool (T) or File › Place a picture… for a logo, then lower the layer's Opacity.
• Blur faces (image-blur-faces): select each face, then Filter › Gaussian Blur or Pixelate: only the selection changes. It does not find faces by itself.
• Image to text (image-ocr): File › Many pictures at once… › Read the text, or Read the text in a picture on the start screen. Uses Windows' own text recognition.
• Collage maker (image-collage): File › New…, then File › Place a picture… for each photo; move with V, resize with Ctrl+T.
• Meme maker (image-meme): the Text tool, then Meme style in Properties (white capitals with a black outline, in Impact).
• Favicon generator (image-favicon): a square document, exported as PNG at 512, 192, 32 and 16 pixels. It makes PNG files only, not .ico.
• Color picker (image-color-picker): the Eyedropper (I): click the picture; the color becomes the foreground color and its code (#rrggbb) is copied; Alt-click sets the background color. Sample size averages 3 × 3, 5 × 5 or 11 × 11 pixels.
• Remove objects (image-remove-object): the Remove & heal tool (J) in Remove (AI): paint over what should go.

Two picture tasks belong to the Converters app, not the Photo Editor: Convert image (image-convert) and SVG to PNG (svg-to-png); the Photo Editor can do both too (open the picture, then Export). HEIC to JPG (heic-to-jpg) is not available yet, and the Photo Editor cannot open HEIC photos.

#How to remove the background of a photo

In the Photo Editor:

1. Open the photo (Open a file, or drop it on the window).
2. Choose Layer › Remove background (AI) (also in the AI menu, and Remove background under Quick actions in Properties). The photo's layer must be a pixel layer.
3. The first time, a window asks to download the part that does it ("Remove background and select subject", Download (199 MB) when nothing AI is on the PC yet; 183 MB once the AI runtime is there). Press Download, or Not now to stop.
4. "Finding the subject…" shows while it works (a few seconds; it runs on the processor). The background is then hidden by a mask, and the editor says "The background is hidden by a mask. Paint white on the mask to bring parts back."
5. To fix the edge, click the mask's thumbnail in the Layers panel and paint with the Brush (B): white shows, black hides; X swaps the colors.
6. Export as PNG or WebP for a transparent background. A JPG has no transparency: the hidden parts become the color in See-through parts become (white unless changed).

Select › Subject (AI) makes a selection of the subject instead, and Select › Background (AI) selects everything but the subject.

#How to remove an object or person from a photo

In the Photo Editor:

1. Pick the Remove & heal tool (J). In the options bar choose Remove (AI).
2. Set the brush size with [ and ], then paint over what should go. A pink trail shows what you painted.
3. Let go: "Removing…" shows, and the painted part is filled from what is around it. Ctrl+Z takes the stroke back.
4. The first time, a window offers to download the object remover (Download (43 MB) with the AI runtime, 28 MB without). If you choose Not now, the spot is filled without AI and the editor says "Filled from around it without AI."

Spot heal (no AI, instant) suits small spots and dust. Heal from source copies texture from a place you Alt-click first, blending it in. With a selection, all three only change pixels inside it. Another way: select the thing and use Edit › Fill… › Its surroundings.

Layer › Lift the selection to a layer (fill behind it) cuts a selected thing to a layer of its own, named "… (lifted)", and fills the hole it leaves, in one step, so it can be moved.

#How to resize, crop and export a picture

In the Photo Editor:

• Resize: Image › Image size… (Ctrl+Alt+I). Type W or H in Pixels or Percent; Keep the proportions keeps the shape. Press Resize. Layers keep their own pixels, so making the picture larger again later loses no sharpness. For a much larger, sharper picture use Image › Upscale 2× (AI) or Upscale 4× (AI).
• Crop: press C. Drag the box's sides and corners, drag inside to move it, drag outside it to turn (straighten). The options bar has Shape (Any shape, Original, Square 1:1, 4:5 portrait, 5:4, 3:2, 2:3, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16 story, 21:9), W, H, Angle (−45° to 45°), Reset and Crop. Press Enter or Crop. Nothing outside the crop is deleted: undo it, or make the canvas larger, and it is still there.
• Export: the Export button (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W). Choose Kind of file (PNG, JPG, WebP or PSD), Size (Full size, smaller standard widths, or Other size… and a width in W), Quality for JPG and WebP (30 to 100), and for JPG the color transparent parts become. The dialog shows the result's size in pixels and "about N KB" before you save. Press Save and choose where in Windows' Save dialog.

Export suggests the picture's own name (an opened beach.jpg exports as beach.jpg): choose another name or folder to keep the original. Save (Ctrl+S) is different: it saves an .ophoto project, never a picture.

#How to blur faces or number plates

In the Photo Editor:

1. Pick Select a shape (M) and drag a box around a face. Hold Shift to add the next face to the selection (or Shift-drag).
2. Choose Filter › Gaussian Blur or Filter › Pixelate. The filter is added as a layer that only covers the selection; change its Radius or Cell size in Properties.
3. Export the picture (PNG, JPG or WebP): the exported picture is flat, with the faces blurred.

Share the exported picture, not the .ophoto project or a PSD copy: those keep the original photo under the blur. The Photo Editor does not find faces or plates by itself.

#How to make a picture with rounded corners or a circle

In the Photo Editor:

• Rounded corners: pick the Shapes tool (U), choose the rectangle and draw it over the photo. In Properties set Corner radius. Move the shape below the photo (Layer › Arrange › Send to back, Ctrl+Shift+[), click the photo's layer and choose Layer › Create clipping mask (Ctrl+Alt+G). Export as PNG (or WebP) to keep the corners clear.
• A circle: pick Select a shape (M), switch it to the ellipse (Shift+M or the options bar) and choose Square 1:1 in the options bar's Shape list (or start dragging, then hold Shift). Drag a circle over the photo. Choose Layer › Layer mask › Add a mask from the selection, then export as PNG.

#How to add a border

In the Photo Editor:

1. Image › Canvas size… (Ctrl+Alt+C). Make W and H larger by twice the border, keep Picture stays at in the middle, press Change.
2. Layer › New fill layer › New color fill layer (it uses the foreground color).
3. Move it below the photo: Layer › Arrange › Send to back (Ctrl+Shift+[).
4. Change its color in Properties, then Export.

#How to watermark a picture

In the Photo Editor, pick the Text tool (T), click the picture, type your name and press Ctrl+Enter or Escape, or use File › Place a picture… (Ctrl+Shift+P) for a logo (a PNG with a transparent background sits best). Move it with the Move tool (V), then lower the layer's Opacity in the Layers panel (or, with the Move tool picked, press a number key: 5 is 50%). Export. The Photo Editor watermarks one picture at a time; it cannot stamp a whole folder of pictures.

#How to make a meme

In the Photo Editor, pick the Text tool (T), click near the top of the picture and type the top line, then press Ctrl+Enter or Escape to finish (a click on the picture would start a new, empty text box, and Meme style would go to that one). In Properties press Meme style (white capitals in Impact, centered, with a black outline). Click near the bottom and type the second line, finish it the same way, then Meme style again. Export.

#How to make a collage

In the Photo Editor, choose File › New… (Ctrl+N) and a size, then File › Place a picture… (Ctrl+Shift+P) and pick one or more photos (each becomes a layer in the middle, scaled down to 90% of the canvas if it is larger than that). Pictures can also be dragged onto the window. Move them with the Move tool (V); smart guides snap them to the canvas and to each other. Resize and turn them with Edit › Free transform (Ctrl+T). Export. There are no ready-made collage grids or templates.

#How to make favicons

In the Photo Editor, choose File › New…, type 512 in W and H, choose a Background (Transparent for an icon with no background) and press Create. Design the icon, then Export as PNG at full size (512), and again with Other size… at 192, 32 and 16 pixels. The Photo Editor makes PNG files; it cannot save .ico files.

#How to upscale a picture

In the Photo Editor, choose Image › Upscale 2× (AI) or Upscale 4× (AI). The first time, a window offers the upscaler's download (Download (20 MB) with the AI runtime, 5 MB without). "Making it larger (1 of N)…", then "Making it larger…" with its progress, shows while every pixel layer gets new, larger pixels from the AI model; text, shapes and fills just scale, as they are sharp at any size. The canvas then grows 2 or 4 times. The upscale is two steps in the History panel (the layers, then the size): press Ctrl+Z twice to undo all of it.

Limits: the result must fit the graphics card ("That would be W × H pixels, more than this graphics card holds.") and no layer may come out larger than 16,384 pixels on a side or 120 million pixels ("The result would be W × H pixels, too big. Upscale a smaller picture or a part of it.").

#How to read the text in a picture (image to text)

In the Photo Editor, choose Read the text in a picture on the start screen, or File › Many pictures at once… › Read the text:

1. Drop a picture or a screenshot on the box, choose one, or paste one with Ctrl+V.
2. Windows reads it on the PC ("Reading…"). The text shows on the right, with each word outlined on the picture, and the language used in the title ("Text · English (United States)").
3. Copy copies the text; Save .txt saves it as a text file. Open another starts again.

Language is "Your Windows languages" at first; choose a language from the list to read in it. The list holds the languages Windows can recognize text in on this PC: those added to Windows with their text recognition. To read another language, add it in Windows' Settings › Time & language › Language & region. One picture is read at a time; very large pictures are scaled down to the largest size Windows reads. Nothing is downloaded and nothing leaves the PC.

#How to resize, convert or compress many pictures at once

In the Photo Editor, choose File › Many pictures at once… (or a button under Many pictures at once on the start screen). The window "Many pictures at once" has four tabs:

• Resize: Pixels (Width, Height, up to 16,000 px, Keep proportions) or Percent (Scale, 1 to 1,000%); the format: Same, PNG, JPG or WebP. Files are named name-resized.ext.
• Convert: the format: Same, PNG, JPG or WebP. Files keep their name with the new extension.
• Make smaller: WebP (smallest) or JPG (everywhere), and Longest side (0 keeps the size). Files are named name-compressed.ext.
• Read the text: image to text, one picture at a time (above).

Drop pictures (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP or SVG, one or many) on the box. Quality (10 to 100, 85 at first) shows for JPG and WebP. The original and the result are shown side by side with their sizes and the change in percent. With one picture, Save JPG (or Save PNG, Save WEBP) saves it; with several, each has its own Save, and Save all N as ZIP saves them in one ZIP (pictures-resized.zip, pictures-converted.zip, pictures-compressed.zip). Every result is a new file without the photos' hidden data (place, camera, date); with JPG, transparent parts become white. The originals are not changed.

#Layers

In the Photo Editor, every picture is a stack of layers: pixel layers, adjustment and live filter layers, color fill and gradient layers, text, shapes and groups. Each layer keeps its own pixels under a transform, so moving, scaling, turning, cropping and resizing never resample them twice.

The Layers panel shows the stack, top first, with each layer's thumbnail and mask:

• Blend mode (Photoshop's 27: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Darker Color, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge (Add), Lighter Color, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity) and Opacity.
• Lock: Keep transparent pixels (painting keeps transparent pixels transparent) and Lock everything (no painting or moving).
• Click picks a layer; Shift-click picks every layer from the active one to the one clicked (to move, transform, group, merge or delete them together). Ctrl-click a layer selects its pixels (Ctrl+Shift-click adds them to the selection). Drag to reorder, or onto a group to put it inside; double-click renames; the eye hides it; Alt-click an eye shows that layer alone (again: all back).
• Right-click: Rename, Duplicate, Clip to the layer below / Release clipping mask, Merge down, Merge visible, Rasterize, Apply mask, Invert mask, Delete mask, Select layer pixels, Group, Delete.
• Buttons at the bottom: New adjustment or filter, Add a mask, Group, New layer, More and Delete.

The Layer menu adds Layer via copy (Ctrl+J: the selected pixels as a new layer, or a copy of the layer; Ctrl+Shift+J cuts them instead), New fill layer, Group layers / Ungroup layers, Arrange, Merge down, Merge visible, Stamp visible (everything as a new layer on top), Flatten image and Rasterize layer (text, shapes and fills to pixels). A group blends with what is below as if its layers were not grouped, unless Blend as one picture is ticked in Properties.

With nothing selected, Delete (or Backspace) deletes the active layer; with a selection it clears the selected pixels. Ctrl+Z brings either back.

#Masks and clipping

In the Photo Editor, a mask hides part of a layer: white shows, black hides, grays are in between. Layer › Layer mask has Add a mask (shows all), Add a mask (hides all), Add a mask from the selection, Invert mask, Apply mask (bakes it into a pixel layer) and Delete mask. On the mask's thumbnail: click to paint it, Shift-click to turn it off ("mask off" shows on the layer). Properties has See the mask, Invert, Turn off, Apply and Delete. In 0.8.0, See the mask (and Alt-click on the mask's thumbnail) does not show the mask on its own on the canvas: only the button's label changes. To check a mask, turn it off and on (Shift-click) or look at its thumbnail.

Masks are painted with the Brush (the foreground color's gray), the Eraser (the background color's gray) or the Blur tool. Painting on an adjustment, fill or group layer that has no mask gives it one. Quick mask (Q) shows the selection as a red film to paint with the brush and the eraser; Q again ends it.

Layer › Create clipping mask (Ctrl+Alt+G) shows a layer only where the layer below has pixels; the menu then says Release clipping mask. An adjustment's Properties have Only the layer below (clip).

#Adjustment layers

In the Photo Editor, adjustments are layers: they change what is below them, stay editable, can be hidden, masked or deleted, and never change a pixel. Add them from Image › Adjustments, Layer › New adjustment layer or New adjustment or filter in the Layers panel; with a selection, the new layer gets a mask of it. The 15 adjustments:

Image › Auto tone and color (Ctrl+Shift+L) adds a Light & color layer named "Auto tone", set from the picture (white balance, exposure, whites and blacks).

#Live filters

In the Photo Editor, filters are live too: each is a layer that works on what is below it, stays editable, and can be masked. When added, a filter is clipped to the active layer (like Photoshop's smart filters), unless that layer is a group or an adjustment; Vignette always covers everything below it. With a selection, the filter only covers the selection. The Filter menu ("Live filters (stay editable)") has 17:

Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, Radial Blur (its Kind: Zoom or Spin), Sharpen (Unsharp Mask), Reduce Noise, Add Noise & Grain, Vignette, Glow, High Pass, Pixelate, Oil Paint, Halftone, Chromatic Aberration, Twirl, Pinch & Bulge, Emboss and Find Edges.

Their settings are in Properties (for example Gaussian Blur Radius 0 to 250 px, Pixelate Cell size 2 to 200 px). To bake a filter into the pixels, merge it down (Ctrl+E) or stamp the picture (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E).

#Layer styles

In the Photo Editor, pixel, text and shape layers have Effects in Properties: Outline (color, Width), Shadow (color, Blur, Away, Angle, Opac.), Glow (color, Size) and Color (a color overlay). They stay editable and sharp at any size.

#Selections

In the Photo Editor, the selection tools share New selection, Add (Shift), Take away (Alt) and Keep where both are (Shift Alt); Select a shape and Lasso also have Feather (px):

• Select a shape (M): rectangle or ellipse, a fixed Shape ratio if wanted. Shift or Alt held when the drag starts adds or takes away; pressed once the drag has started, Shift draws a square or circle and Alt draws from the center. A click without dragging deselects.
• Lasso (L): Freehand or Straight lines; holding Alt when letting go of a freehand drag goes on with straight lines; click back on the start, double-click or press Enter to finish. Alt at the start of a Freehand lasso does not take away: use Take away in the options bar.
• Select an object (W): Objects (AI) selects the thing you click or drag a box around; Similar colors is the magic wand (Tolerance 0 to 255, 32 at first; Touching only). Select subject is in the options bar too.
• Select menu: All (Ctrl+A), Deselect (Ctrl+D), Reselect (Ctrl+Shift+D), Inverse (Ctrl+Shift+I), Subject (AI), Background (AI), Layer pixels, Quick mask (Q), Refine edges… (Ctrl+Alt+R: the edge follows the picture's own edges within a Radius, for hair, fur and leaves), Modify (Feather…, Expand…, Contract…, Smooth…, Border…) and Crop to selection.

Brushes, fills, filters and adjustments added while something is selected only change the selection.

#Brushes and retouching tools

In the Photo Editor, the painting tools are Brush (B), Eraser (E), Clone stamp (S), Remove & heal (J), Blur & sharpen (R) and Dodge, burn & sponge (O). Their options bar has Size (1 to 5,000 px), Hardness, Opacity, Flow, Smooth (the stroke trails the pen for steady lines), Pen pressure changes the size and Tips (Soft round, Hard round, Airbrush, Marker, Calligraphy, Smooth inking). Pen tablets' pressure is used.

• [ and ] change the size; Shift+[ and Shift+] the hardness; 1 to 9 and 0 set the opacity (two quick digits give an exact percentage).
• Shift-click draws a straight line from the end of the last stroke.
• Clone stamp and Heal from source: Alt-click where to copy from ("Source set. Now paint where it should go."); Aligned keeps the same offset from stroke to stroke.
• Blur & sharpen: Blur or Sharpen, Strength. Dodge, burn & sponge: Dodge, Burn or Sponge, Strength; Alt switches dodge and burn.
• Gradient & fill (G): Gradient (Linear, Radial, Angle, Diamond, Reflected; from the foreground to the background color) makes a gradient layer, which you can drag again to place anew; Shift keeps 45° steps. Paint bucket fills like colors with the foreground color (Tolerance, Touching only, All layers).

Strokes paint the active pixel layer (or its mask). Text and shapes are not painted on: "Text and shapes stay editable. Paint on a new layer, or rasterize this one (Layer menu)."

#Text and shapes

In the Photo Editor, text and shapes stay editable and sharp at any size.

• Text (T): click to type a line, or drag a box for text that wraps. New text starts at a size that suits the picture. Options and Properties: the font (the PC's installed fonts, searchable, each shown in itself), Weight (Thin to Black), Size (1 to 2,000 px), Align, color, Line, Spacing, Italic, Underline, Capitals, Edit the words and Meme style. Press Escape or Ctrl+Enter to finish. A click on the picture also finishes, but with the Text tool it starts a new text box there (an empty one goes away when finished). Click a text layer with the Text tool to edit it again (not one inside a group).
• Shapes (U): rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star and line, with Fill, Stroke, Width, Radius (rectangles) and Sides; Shift keeps them square (lines at 45° steps), Alt draws from the center. Properties: W, H, Corner radius, Points/Sides (3 to 40), Inner size for stars.

#Moving, transforming and the canvas

In the Photo Editor:

• Move (V) moves the picked layers; Pick the layer I click (or Ctrl-click) picks the layer under the pointer; Alt-drag moves a copy; Shift keeps the move straight; arrows nudge 1 pixel, Shift+arrows 10. Smart guides snap to the canvas's edges and middle, other layers and guides (hold Ctrl to move freely).
• Edit › Free transform (Ctrl+T): drag corners to resize (Shift: freely), sides to stretch, outside to turn (Shift: 15° steps), Ctrl+corner to distort in perspective, Alt from the center; Done or Enter applies, Cancel or Escape cancels. Edit › Transform flips or turns a layer 90°.
• Place and size in Properties: X, Y, W, H, Angle and Original size.
• Image › Canvas size… (anchor with Picture stays at; nothing outside the canvas is deleted), Rotate, Crop to selection, Trim transparent edges.
• View › Rulers (Ctrl+R): drag a guide out of a ruler; drag it back to remove it; Clear guides removes them all.
• Hand (H, or hold Space, or the middle mouse button) pans; double-click the Hand fits the picture. Zoom (Z): click to zoom in, Alt-click out, drag sideways to zoom smoothly. The zoom goes from 1% to 6,400%.

#AI tools in the Photo Editor

The Photo Editor's AI runs on the PC, after a one-time download per feature; nothing is uploaded, there are no credits and no limits on use. The AI menu has Remove background (AI), Subject (AI), Background (AI), Lift the selection to a layer (fill behind it), Select an object (tool) (W), Remove things (tool) (J), Upscale 2× (AI), Upscale 4× (AI) and AI parts on this computer….

The AI runtime (15.4 MB) downloads once with the first feature. AI › AI parts on this computer… lists the four features, with "On this computer" or a Download button for each. What happens on the graphics card or the processor, where the files go, and how to remove them: Downloads on first use.

When a download is declined, Select an object falls back to the magic wand and Remove things fills without AI. The AI tools need the full Photo Editor: the simple Photo Editor has none.

#Files it opens and saves

The Photo Editor opens (Open a file, File › Open…, drag and drop, or Recent):

• Pictures: JPG/JPEG/JFIF, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, SVG and ICO. A photo opens upright (its camera rotation is applied). An SVG is drawn as pixels, at least 2,000 pixels on its long side. An animated GIF opens as a still picture.
• Photoshop files (.psd), with their layers (see below).
• Octoolo photo projects (.ophoto).

TIFF files appear in the Open dialog, but the editor cannot decode them: they give "This picture does not open here. JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, SVG and PSD do." HEIC photos and camera RAW files (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG...) do not open, and Photoshop's large document files (.psb) are not offered in the Open dialog. One picture is open at a time; others are added as layers (File › Place a picture…, Ctrl+Shift+P, or drop them on an open picture). Dropping a PSD or .ophoto file on an open picture opens it instead.

It saves:

• Save (Ctrl+S): an .ophoto project. If the open file is a project on disk, Save writes over it; otherwise Windows' Save dialog asks where (Ctrl+Shift+S, Save as…, always asks). Save never writes over the JPG, PNG or PSD you opened.
• Export…: PNG, JPG, WebP or PSD (see "How to resize, crop and export a picture").
• File › Save a copy as Photoshop (PSD)…: the PSD export ("Save a copy for Photoshop").

The pixels are 8 bits per channel, RGB. Exported pictures carry none of the photo's hidden data: no location, camera or date, and no ppi value (the ppi picked in New… is kept only in the project).

#PSD files: what comes across

When the Photo Editor opens a PSD, these come in: layers and groups (open or closed, pass-through or not), layer masks (with their off state), blend modes, opacity, visibility, clipping, locks, text layers (still editable: font, size, bold, italic, color, tracking, leading, alignment, point or box text), and these adjustment layers: Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Exposure, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation (its master setting), Color Balance, Black & White, Photo Filter, Invert, Posterize, Threshold and Gradient Map. 16-bit and 32-bit files become 8 bits. A PSD with no layers opens as its flat picture.

What does not come in is said after opening, in one message starting with "Opened.", for example "Opened. 2 layer styles (shadows, strokes, glows) were left out; 1 smart object came in as pixels; 3 text layers stayed editable; check their fonts and line breaks.":

• layer styles (shadows, strokes, glows...) are left out;
• other adjustment layers (for example Selective Color or Channel Mixer) are left out, so their effect is missing;
• smart objects come in as plain pixels;
• vector masks are left out.

When the Photo Editor saves a PSD (Save a copy as Photoshop (PSD)…, or PSD in Export), each layer goes as its own Photoshop layer at full size: groups, masks, blend modes, opacity, visibility, clipping, Keep transparent pixels, text as editable Photoshop text (Photoshop draws it again on opening, so the font must be on that PC), and the adjustments above. Shapes, fills and layer styles become pixels. Light & color, Color Lookup, Hue/Saturation with Colorize or one color range, and all 17 live filters have no Photoshop match: each becomes a pixel layer named "… (merged)" showing its result, with the layers it covered hidden below it; the save says so ("Saved name.psd. 2 live filters were merged into pictures (Photoshop has no match).").

#.ophoto projects

An .ophoto file is the Photo Editor's own project: everything exactly as it is (every layer and its pixels, masks, live filters, adjustments, text, shapes, styles, guides, the selection, the ppi), with a small preview. Only Octoolo's Photo Editor opens it. The undo history is not kept: a reopened project starts a new history. "This is not an Octoolo photo project." means the file is not a project; "This project is missing some of its pixels." means part of it is missing. A file that is damaged in another way shows a technical error instead. In each case the file cannot be opened: use another copy of the project.

#Options and settings

The Photo Editor has no page in Settings; its choices are in its menus:

• View › Around the picture: Light, Gray (at first) or Dark.
• View › The wheel zooms (on at first): the mouse wheel zooms; turned off, it scrolls (Ctrl or Alt+wheel still zoom, Shift+wheel scrolls sideways). This one is remembered on the PC.
• View › Pixel grid (on at first; it shows only when zoomed in close: from 800% at 100% Windows display scaling, sooner with larger scaling), Rulers, Show or hide panels (Tab).
• Export remembers the last kind of file and quality on the PC (JPG at 88 the first time).

Around the picture, Pixel grid, Rulers, the panels and the tools' options go back to their first values when the Photo Editor is opened again.

• Help › Keyboard shortcuts lists the commands' shortcuts (not the second keys such as Ctrl+Y, or Shift with a tool's key); Help › Search commands (Ctrl+/) finds any command by name.

The AI parts are listed, and removed, in Octoolo's Settings › Downloaded parts.

#Keyboard shortcuts

The Photo Editor uses Photoshop's shortcuts. Shortcuts do nothing while typing in a field.

The letter, digit and punctuation keys go by where the key is on a US (QWERTY) keyboard, not by the letter printed on it. On a German (QWERTZ) keyboard, Ctrl and the key marked Y undo (Ctrl and the key marked Z redo). On a French (AZERTY) keyboard, Ctrl and the key marked W undo, and Ctrl and the key marked Z is Close. The table below names the US keys.

#Where it keeps things

• The work in progress: the Photo Editor keeps the open picture as you work (a moment after each change, longer for very large pictures) in the browser storage (IndexedDB) of Octoolo's WebView2 profile, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app. Only the open picture is kept, and only the parts that changed are written again. File › Close removes it (after Save first or Close without saving); closing Octoolo's window does not.
• Recent files: the list on the start screen is recent-files.json in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app (shared with the office editors).
• Preferences (the welcome tip, the wheel, the last export format and quality): the WebView2 profile's local storage.
• AI parts: %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app\engines (see Downloads on first use).
• Your files: only where you save them. Projects, exports and PSD copies go where you choose in Windows' Save dialog.

Uninstalling Octoolo keeps %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app unless the uninstaller's "Delete the application data" box is ticked.

#Getting work back after a crash

The Photo Editor keeps the open picture as you work, so a crash, a power cut or closing Octoolo loses at most the last few seconds. Open the Photo Editor again: it reopens the picture as it was, with "Picked up where you left off" as the first step in the History panel and "kept as you work" in the title. The undo history before the crash is not kept. Save it as a project (Ctrl+S) or export it to have a file.

If the PC's storage is full the editor says so: "Your work could not be kept as you go: Your work could not be kept as you go: there is no room left on this computer to keep it. Save it as a project so a crash can't lose it." (in 0.8.0 the first words appear twice). Make room on the drive and save a project. The message is shown once, until keeping works again.

The work also survives the graphics card restarting (see Troubleshooting): the pixels are kept in memory as well as on the card.

#Downloads it needs

The Photo Editor itself needs no download. Its AI features download once each, the first time they are used: the AI runtime (15.4 MB) and the feature's model (Background remover 183.3 MB, Object selection 78.0 MB, Object remover 28.1 MB, Upscaler 4.9 MB; 309.6 MB for all four with the runtime). They are kept in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app\engines and work offline afterwards. Image to text uses Windows' own text recognition and downloads nothing. Details: Downloads on first use.

#Privacy

Nothing in the Photo Editor leaves the PC: pictures are opened, edited, read (image to text) and saved on the PC, and the AI runs on the PC. The only network use is the one-time download of the AI parts (from octoolo.com, Microsoft's NuGet and Hugging Face), which sends nothing about you or your pictures. Exports never contain the photo's location, camera or date.

#The simple Photo Editor (when the graphics card cannot be used)

The full Photo Editor draws with the graphics card through WebGPU. If WebGPU cannot be used at all (for example with a blocked or very old graphics driver, in some virtual machines or remote sessions), the Photo Editor opens a simpler editor instead. While no photo is open its title says "The simple editor: this PC's graphics card is not available" (with a photo open it shows the photo's size and "kept as you work"). When no graphics card can be used but software drawing can, the full editor opens anyway, more slowly; its status line then names the software drawing ("software drawing (slower)") instead of a graphics card.

The simple editor edits one photo, with every change kept as separate settings (the original file is never changed):

• Crop & turn: Shape (Free, Original, Square, 4:5, 3:2, 16:9, 9:16), Left, Right, Mirror, Upside down, Straighten (−45° to 45°).
• Adjust: Fix it for me; Brightness, Contrast, Color strength, Warmth, Fade, Dark corners, Sharpen, Soften.
• Filters: Vivid, Warm, Cool, Film, Vintage, Black & white, Noir, Soft, Punch, Dream, with a strength.
• Text (Title, Lower third, Caption, Statement, Quote, Meme, Label, and emoji), Draw (Pen, Highlighter, Arrow, Line, Box, Circle), Stickers (Add a logo or picture), Hide (Blur, Squares, Black box), Frame (Border, Rounded corners, Round).
• Compare (hold to see the original) and Pick a color.
• Save (Ctrl+S): JPG, PNG or WebP, Quality, Size; saved as "name edited.jpg" and so on, without metadata.
• The Photo menu: Open a photo…, Save…, Close this photo, Resize many pictures…, Convert many pictures…, Make many pictures smaller… and Read the text in a picture….

It has no layers, masks, PSD or .ophoto files and no AI. Remove background, Upscale image, Collage maker and Favicon generator are not available in the simple editor (their tips there say they are on their way, then "Everything else is here already."), nor is Remove objects (no tip); they work in the full Photo Editor. It opens JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF and SVG. Its work in progress is kept too and comes back when it opens again.

#Troubleshooting

#The Photo Editor opened a simple editor without layers

The PC's graphics card cannot be used through WebGPU, so the Photo Editor opened its simple editor ("The simple editor: this PC's graphics card is not available"). This can happen with blocked or outdated graphics drivers, in virtual machines and in some remote sessions. Fix: update the graphics driver from the card maker, use Octoolo on the PC itself rather than through a remote session, and restart Octoolo. The simple editor still crops, adjusts, adds text and saves.

#The editor is slow and the status line says "software drawing (slower)"

No graphics card could be used, so the Photo Editor draws with the processor. Large pictures and filters are slow. Update the graphics driver, and do not run Octoolo through Remote Desktop.

#"The graphics card restarted; your work is safe."

The graphics card was reset (a driver update, a driver crash, or Windows resetting a card that was too busy, for example while a game runs). The Photo Editor set itself up again from the pixels it keeps in memory: nothing is lost. If it happens often, close games and other heavy graphics work while editing and update the graphics driver.

#"This picture does not open here. JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, SVG and PSD do."

The file is a kind the Photo Editor cannot read (TIFF, HEIC, camera RAW...), it is damaged, or it is larger than the graphics card's largest texture (very large panoramas and scans). Save it as JPG or PNG in another program first; for a picture that is too large, make it smaller first with File › Many pictures at once… › Resize, then open the result. HEIC to JPG is not available in Octoolo yet.

#"This picture is W × H pixels; the largest this graphics card takes is N × N."

An SVG picture would be larger than the graphics card's largest texture. Make it smaller in the program that made it, or convert it to PNG at a smaller size first. Other pictures that are too large show "This picture does not open here…" instead (see above). The same limit caps New…, Image size…, Canvas size… and Export sizes.

#"This Photoshop file did not open: …"

The PSD is damaged or uses something the PSD reader cannot read. Save it again from Photoshop, or export a PNG from it.

#A PSD opened with "Opened. … were left out"

The message lists what did not come across: layer styles, adjustment layers the Photo Editor has no match for, smart objects (now plain pixels) and vector masks. Text layers stay editable but should be checked for fonts and line breaks. See "PSD files: what comes across".

#"Your work could not be kept as you go: …"

Keeping the work in progress failed, usually because the drive is full ("there is no room left on this computer to keep it"). The work is still open; save it as a project (Ctrl+S) right away and make room on the drive.

#The AI download failed or stopped

The download window shows the reason, for example "The download failed: Could not reach the download server…". Check the internet connection and press Download again: it goes on from where it stopped. See Downloads on first use for every download message and the sites a firewall must allow.

#"Object selection needs the AI parts (AI › AI parts on this computer…). Using the magic wand."

The click came before the Photo Editor's AI was ready (in the first moment after the editor opens), so it selected similar colors with the magic wand instead. Undo it (Ctrl+Z) if needed, wait a moment and click again. A missing object selection model does not give this message: the click opens its download window instead, and when that download is declined the magic wand is used without a message (download it later with AI › AI parts on this computer…, where it is "Select an object").

#"Filled from around it without AI."

The object remover's download was declined, so Remove (AI) filled the spot without AI (fine for small spots, weaker on large objects). Download "Remove things" in AI › AI parts on this computer… and paint again.

#Remove background takes a few seconds

It runs on the processor on purpose (see Downloads on first use); a few seconds per picture is normal. "Finding the subject…" shows meanwhile.

#Upscale says the result is too big

"That would be W × H pixels, more than this graphics card holds." or "The result would be W × H pixels, too big. Upscale a smaller picture or a part of it." Upscale 2× instead of 4×, crop the picture first, or make it smaller.

#A message says to pick a layer or that the layer is locked

• "Pick a pixel layer (a photo) first." / "Pick a pixel layer first." / "Pick a pixel layer to remove things from." / "This tool works on pixel layers.": click a photo's layer in the Layers panel. Text, shapes and fills must be rasterized first (Layer › Rasterize layer).
• "Text and shapes stay editable. Paint on a new layer, or rasterize this one (Layer menu).": add a layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and paint there, or rasterize.
• "Add a layer to paint on (Layer › New layer).": the picture has no layer picked.
• "That layer is locked.": turn off Lock everything in the Layers panel.
• "Pick a layer to transform.", "Pick a layer with pixels to copy.", "Nothing there to copy."
• "Masks are painted with the brush, the eraser or the blur tool." and "In quick mask, paint with the brush (selects) or the eraser."
• "Alt-click where to copy from first.": Clone stamp and Heal from source need a source.
• "Select what should be filled first." (Fill › Its surroundings) and "Select a thing on a photo first (Select an object, or a lasso)." (Lift).

#"That stroke could not be kept (…)."

A brush stroke failed to be written (usually while the graphics card was resetting). The picture goes back to before the stroke; paint it again.

#"This .cube file has no 3D table this editor reads."

The Color Lookup layer reads 3D .cube LUTs only. Use a 3D LUT (with LUT_3D_SIZE).

#Ctrl+V does not paste a picture copied in another app

Ctrl+V in the Photo Editor pastes what was copied inside it. To bring in a screenshot or a picture from another app, save it as a file and use File › Place a picture…, or drag the file onto the window.

#The exported JPG has a white (or black) background

JPG has no transparency: transparent parts become the See-through parts become color (white at first). Export as PNG or WebP to keep them transparent.

#The exported file replaced my original photo

Export suggests the picture's own name; saving it in the same folder replaces the original after Windows asks. Choose another name or folder in the Save dialog.

#The printed size or dpi is wrong

Exported pictures carry no ppi (dpi) value; most programs then assume 72 or 96. Set the print size in the printing program.

#Image to text: "No text was found in this picture."

Windows found no text. Try a sharper or larger picture, or pick the right Language.

#"Windows cannot read text in pictures on this computer yet: add a language with its text recognition in Settings, Time & language, Language & region."

Windows has no text recognition installed for any language. Add a language in Windows' Settings › Time & language › Language & region (with its text recognition), then try again.

#Many pictures: "… is not a picture this tool can open (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP or SVG)."

The batch tools read PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP and SVG. Other files are skipped.

#My undo history is gone

The undo history lives only while the picture is open. It is not kept in projects, PSD files or after Octoolo closes. It holds up to 120 steps; on very large pictures the oldest steps are dropped sooner.

#Limits and what it cannot do

• One picture open at a time; no tabs. Add other pictures as layers.
• 8 bits per channel, RGB only: no 16-bit or 32-bit editing, no CMYK, no color profile choices.
• It cannot open HEIC, TIFF or camera RAW files, or edit animated GIFs (they open as one still picture).
• It cannot save .ico, TIFF, GIF, AVIF or PDF; it saves PNG, JPG, WebP, PSD and .ophoto.
• The largest picture is the graphics card's largest texture side (the message names it).
• No layer styles, vector masks or smart objects from PSD files (smart objects come in as pixels); PSB files are not offered in the Open dialog.
• No pen tool or editable vector paths (use the Vector Editor); shapes are rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star and line.
• No automatic face or number plate detection; no batch watermarking; no collage templates.
• No generative AI (no images from a prompt, no "generative fill" with new content): the AI removes things by filling from their surroundings.
• No actions, macros, plugins, brushes from files, or 3D.
• Undo history is not saved with the project.
• Exports carry none of the photo's hidden data (no location, camera or date, not even the ppi), so dpi for print must be set elsewhere.
• No printing from the Photo Editor; export and print from another app.