How do I install On12022 as a plug-in in Elements (2021)

Although I don't have the programs in question, this is how I have always handled stand-alone programs that do not work directly within Elements as an added layer, and that create a separate "baked in" file:

I use Elements to work up to the point that I am ready for the stand-alone program and save that file, first as a layered PSD, and then in whatever least destructive format the stand-alone will accept.

I open that file in the stand-alone and do it's thing, then save that work either as a write-over to the file that it started with, or as a PSD if it is capable of that.

Back to Elements, where my original layer stack should be there waiting, I Open the stand-alone program's file in Elements and display the open files as "Tiles"

I click the stand-alone file to make it active in the layer stack and drag/drop it onto the tiled window of my original PSD stack; no special tools or maneuvers are necessary for this drag/drop procedure; just mouse over the layer thumbnail, click-and-hold to grab and hold it, then hold the Shift key while dropping it where you want it.

Holding the Shift key makes it land perfectly center so I don't have to relocate it with the Move tool.

Now, you can change the layer mode and adjust the opacity to suit.

Once I get what I want safely in my layer stack and the finished image saved, I delete any extra files that were created in the process as I have what I need in my layer stack and will never need them again.

While not quite so quick and handy as working as a plug-in, my process yields the exact same result in the end.


It is very important to ALWAYS keep your original jpeg as the Background layer of the finished image, no matter what else you may do nor whatever other programs and processes are used, that original Background layer governs whatever metadata the end result will have and display; many programs and plug-ins will corrupt or completely strip this data and if you don't incorporate their product as a layer over the original, that data is lost.


Before trusting any program to maintain a files metadata and preserve it in the saved file, load some test files with all possible data, EXIF, XMP, IPTC, GPS, Keyword Tags, and Embedded Comments; run these test files through the program and compare the resulting files' metadata with that of your test files, paying especial attention to Date Taken, as this is the most common field to get corrupted.

Don't completely trust Adobe programs to preserve your data either; I always have to check behind Elements and PS and replace whatever data they have corrupted, although they are not as bad for it as some programs, they are not completely trustworthy either.