Participating Frequently

Question

Indesign, edit images using GIMP instead of PS

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 22, 2024
7 replies
3745 views

I've been all around the Inet on this. The answer seems pretty standard: it's an OS thing, set the default handler for the file ext. OK, I did that. Only Indesign still insists that I have to install PS to edit the image.

I am double clicking on an image in one of the clip libraries, and it says Install PS. If I use the edit menu and go to edit with and pick GIMP, it *still* pops up a dlg saying I must install PS.

Placing an image from the library into a new document and alt-d-click on inserted image produces the same result.

Running on Windows 10, i9 processor, with Indesign 19.1 x64.

I haven't seen this scenario described anywhere else.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

-- Phil

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I've had another thought...

You say you reinstalled InDesign and Photoshop. Did you install the CC Desktop App first and use it to install the others? That's the correct install method, and failure to do that can make for all kinds of problems.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Have you tried setting filetype associations in Adobe Bridge?

Mike Witherell

rob day

Community Expert

Hi @Phil at Waldport Tech , Have you tried opening your Links panel (Window>Links), selecting the link you want to edit, and choosing Edit With from the panel‘s flyout menu?

P

Phil at Waldport TechAuthor

Participating Frequently

Yes, I have tried that. Edit With, edit original. doesn't matter. Doesn't *seem* to matter what I do. InDesign refuses to play this game. BTW: I have installed Photoshop, at least by way of further diagnosing the problem, and it still says I must install Photoshop to edit this "item." Whether I d-click on something in the CC library, or in a document, or off of the links fly-out...

I went into Windows default apps, and into right click on an image in file explorer and choose a "new default" program for all image types. So, editing an image from file explorer brings up what I want it to (PS at the moment), but not from InDesign.

So, I'm out of ideas.

Any further suggestions?

rob day

Community Expert

Can you share the gimp file?

P

Phil at Waldport TechAuthor

Participating Frequently

Further Data: I installed Photoshop... and it STILL says I must install Photoshop to edit this image. So, clearly something is VERY WRONG here.

Summarizing: I can't double click an image in CC Library or on the document to edit it. Comes up saying "must install Photoshop." Photoshop has been installed, still says so. I don't really want to learn PS at this time, got enough going on learning InDesign. I don't need the editing feature that badly, but it would save a lot of time, which (saving time) is why I'm moving to InDesign in the first place. A professional program rather than the amateur stuff from Microsoft.

I am open to all suggestions here! Help!!

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

Well, not surprisingly, the Creative Cloud apps and 'bridgeware' are pretty Adobe-centric. I am not sure the hooks and crooks exist to substitute other apps as the default handlers from within the app/app set.

That said, if GIMP is properly installed, and appears as a an option in the Edit With list, clicking it should hand off the edit to that tool. I'd say any failure to do so is at the OS/Default App assignment level and not within InDesign's operation. (That is, ID is following the OS command as do nearly all apps that offer 'open with' or 'edit with' options, but it's not set up correctly.)

If GIMP doesn't appear in the with list, or even if it does, you might do a full manual find (in Edit With | Other...) right to the GIMP executable to see if that completes the assignment/OS call to the right program.

And I have to echo Peter. Unless you're extremely committed to GIMP, it seems like installing the, er, real tool you already have is the better solution. (I'm not knocking GIMP... but it's no Photoshop. 🙂 )

P

Phil at Waldport TechAuthor

Participating Frequently

By the way, the "edit with" list does show GIMP as "default".
(GNU Image Manipulation Program 2.1 (default)" )

Make no difference. "To edit this image you must install Photoshop."

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

We're going in circles, so here -- So let's start all over:

I've gone the nuclear option:.

* Uninstalled ID. Uninstalled PS. Uinstalled GIMP. Rebooted.

* Reinstalled ID. Reinstalled PS. Both latest version. (Did *not* reinstall GIMP.)

* Started a new document. (Added nothing to it.)

* Wiped out the CC library (which was still there even though I uninstalled? No matter...) and repopulated with a small selection of favorite clipart, resident on that same machine. (Drag and drop from Windows file system, a collection of JPGs and PNGs, to the CC library panel.)

* Dragged one image from CC library to the document, to test that.

* Double clicked on a different item in the CC library and it says "You must install Photoshop" to edit this image. (NOTE: as stated above PS *is* installed.)

* From windows file explorer, double cilck that image and Photoshop brings it up (fast, too).

* Back to ID, right click an image in the CC library, and chose "edit with" and select PS, and it says "you must install PS".

* Also tried "edit with" and Photo Editor (Windows thing). Same result. "You must install PS" Sees it on the list, can't hand off to it. Or won't.

* Also went to window -> links and from that flyout tried to edit, for the one image now in the new document. Same result, both edit and edit with.

This is not a GIMP issue. It is not a "you folks who use the free stuff" issue (not you, some one else). It's not a matter of my having corrupted ID by fiddling with it, since it's a fresh install. No add-ons, exactly as installed. I accept it's got to be pilot error on my part somehow. But given the above steps, precisely outlined, what did I do wrong?

How can PS be installed yet ID doesn't see it? (Sees it enough to put it on the "edit with" list, but not enough to invoke it, though Windows can invoke it.)

Windows 10. Latest versions of ID and PS (freshly installed). i9 processor, RTX 4080 video card.

The images in CC were dragged in from Windows file system. Not from a document, as someone else suggested. (Naturally that would be uneditable.) I did not open a GIMP document (I don't use GIMP documents actually, just image manipulation.) These are standard PNGs and JPGs, editable with PS, Windows Photo Editor, et al: just clipart. Double click the images in file explorer and PS wakes right up with that image (right fast, too!). Only ID can't seem to hand it off to PS or anyone else either.

What am I missing?

I appreciate your time

-- Phil

To be fair, your replies have gone around a bit from images in CC Libraries to in the doc to here and there — it hasn't been completely clear what your processes/aims were until the last few posts.

But if you reinstalled ID and Photoshop, and are getting the "must install PS" message, it's an indication that your overall Adobe installation is corrupt at a very low level. Just uninstalling and reinstalling doesn't always clear and update things like user and app preferences, or the file cache, or such. You're basically installing the same slightly broken app.

Uninstall the Adobe apps and run this tool: https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download

That should scrub away any broken bits of bad configuration file.

Then install ID and PS (and, recommended, Bridge and AI) in a single operation. You should find everything working after that.

A question that hasn't been fully asked or answered, though, and could be a contributing factor: Do you have a full Creative Cloud license for all the same, current tools? Or are you installing an older version of Photoshop from a different source?

Specifically, tell us the exact version of InDesign and the exact version of Photoshop you're installing (now, before you spend any more time on fixes — it will guide any further useful answers).

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

What is a clip library? Do you mean CC Libraries?

Mike Witherell

P

Phil at Waldport TechAuthor

Participating Frequently

I'm old school. Been in this business a long time. Clip Art Library was the term. Calling it CC Library to me is just marketing (actually, good marketing in this case, I have to admit, and I don't like marketing in general 🙂 ). All the same, I should have used the correct term. My apologies.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

You don't say what version of InDesign you have or if you have a Creative Cloud, subscription, but if you do, why not go ahead and install Photoshop?

P

Phil at Waldport TechAuthor

Participating Frequently

It does say what version of InDesign: 19.1 x64.

I don't want yet another massive learning curve. I already know how to use GIMP. I have had it up to the eyebrows and beyond with Publisher (don't have any hair left to pull out) and am braving the not-quite-inifinite learning curve of InDesign. I don't want a 2nd one with PS also.

I'm in a production situation and need to keep the production moving. Time on learning how to use the tool(s) has to be minimal.

Anyway... I still continue to see (effectively) "it should work" only I can't get past "you need to install Photoshop" no matter what I do.

The edit with shows three options, one of which is GIMP. Yet no matter what i do, there's that dialog.

One of the reasons I switched to InDesign is to be able to have user settings and user options. You know, a user-friendly environment, which MSFT seems to have forgotten as a concept.

I'll keep looking around for answers.

-- Phil

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

Well... you make your choices for your reasons. Good enough. But as someone so old-school I think I still have some sheets of blueline board in the files, I've found it productive to not lock myself to outdated or low-powered tools. Publisher was never a professional tool, although like Word and Excel there were pro approaches to using it. Whether InDesign has the specific features you expected or not, it's not even in the same universe as far as capabilities and modernity. (It also has many, many customization and adaptability features; you may simply be looking from the wrong perspective.)

Short form, here, is that ID is complicated, yes, but worth investing time into learning. And as for GIMP... it is and always was a free Photoshop clone; now that you have the real thing, which absolutely nothing else compares to, you might find a few hours learning a somewhat different interface and terminology well worth the time. Whereas I can only think that hours spent trying to integrate GIMP into the Adobe set is, just perhaps, time not as well invested.

This isn't a Ford-vs-Chevy thing, after all. It's more like KIA-vs-Lamborghini. TIme spent learning the industry-standard, arguably best tools in the game is not going to be idle effort that's obsoleted by next week's toys.

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