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ElementsXXL Changelog

What's new in ElementsXXL 11.0.1

Nov 23, 2023
  • The sliders of the Sky Replace dialog now have styles which visualize their functionality.
  • Bug Fix: Photoshop Elements 2024: The icons and adjustment layer controls on the Adjustments window are displayed again.
  • Bug Fix: The ? buttons of the Sky Replace and Style Settings dialogs work now
  • Bug Fix: The ElementsXXL tool options for the brush tool were moved a bit to the right to not overlap with other controls.
  • Bug Fix: Two checkboxes on the Edit Layers dialog are now localized correctly to German
  • The trial version can now be used for another 14 days, even if it expired previously.

New in ElementsXXL 11.0 (Nov 3, 2023)

  • 198 new features for Photoshop Elements
  • 500 sky replacement images
  • Support for Photoshop (Elements) 2024
  • Support for the new dark UI of Photoshop Elements 2024

New in ElementsXXL 10.2 (Apr 24, 2023)

  • Lighting Effects:
  • The Ok, Cancel and Preview controls were moved to the top right side of the dialog to make them accessible with a big system font size.
  • No more flashing when entering and exiting tool mode
  • Bug Fix: The Colorize check box on the Hue/Saturation Pro dialog does produce a crash anymore.
  • Photoshop:
  • Bug Fix: Does not replicate the Default Actions set in Photoshop anymore on startup.
  • Bug Fix: Previously some Preferences settings in Photoshop were changed by ElementsXXL on startup.
  • Photoshop Elements 2022/2023:
  • Bug Fix: The ElementsXXL controls on the Tool Options bar of various tools are placed correctly now
  • Bug Fix: The message to reinstall ElementsXXL does not needlessly occur anymore when using Tool Mode and on other occassions.

New in ElementsXXL 10.1 (Feb 7, 2023)

  • New Activated Features combo box in the ElementsXXL Preferences which replaces the Deactivate ElementsXXL checkbox. You can now choose to switch off all feature or only keep FilterHub or ActionsXXL activated.
  • Bug Fix: Some key shortcuts assigned via "Edit > Key Shortcuts" were previously not executed.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed some layer clicking problems on the Layers panel in Photoshop
  • New digital signature for the installer
  • The trial version can be used for another 14 days

New in ElementsXXL 10.0 (Oct 21, 2022)

  • New features:
  • ActionsXXL panel for action recording (Photoshop Elements only)
  • Batch processing feature
  • FilterHub for fast filter application
  • Edit Layers feature for editing various properties of multiple layers at the same time, e.g. blend mode, opacity, fill opacity, the density & feather of layer & vector masks. It also allows applying varioius operations to layer styles, layer masks and vector mask.
  • New Layer > Layer Mask > Invert command for inverting layer masks
  • New Layer > Vector Mask > Invert command for inverting vector masks
  • New Layers icon bar with 12 icons and new Batch & FilterHub icons
  • Changes:
  • The Saturation button on the Auto Correct panel now displays the Hue/Saturation Pro window if the Manual check box is active.
  • The "Lens Correction > Adobe Lens Profile Downloader/Creator" menu items were removed, because Adobe does not offer them anymore.
  • New ? button for displaying the manual was added to the Key Shortcuts dialog
  • The File > Actions sub menu is not displayed in Photoshop Elements 2022 and higher anymore to avoid too many menu items. It can still be accessed from the icon bar.
  • The "Highpass Sharpen" menu item was moved to the Enhance > Sharpen sub menu in Photoshop Elements.
  • The "Layer > Export as PNG" menu item is not displayed on the Layer menu in Photoshop Elements anymore. It can still be accessed on the File > Export menu
  • Bug Fixes:
  • The Hue/Saturation Pro adjustment layer now restores its settings when editing it again
  • The Channel Mixer and Hue/Saturation Pro adjustment layers did not work previously when displaying their own dialog instead of using the Adjustments panel.
  • Applying plugins of The Plugin Site as smart object from the FilterHub window works again
  • The ? button of the following dialogs works now: Rename Layers, Add Haze, Texture Soften, Skin Enhance, Skin Smoother, Auto Correction, Hue/Saturation Pro
  • The localized tool tips of the icon bars are not jumbled up anymore
  • Installation:
  • The installation automatically uninstalls the ActionsXXL and FilterHub plugins to avoid problems

New in ElementsXXL 9.01 (Mar 29, 2022)

  • Support for the MS Store version of Photoshop Elements 2022
  • New Save (As) icon on the General icon bar
  • Bug Fix: An error message asking for reinstallation was displayed wrongly sometimes in Photoshop Elements 2021/22. This does not happen anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The icon bars are not displayed too big anymore if UI scaling is deativated and 150% display scaling is used.
  • The trial version can be used for another 14 days

New in ElementsXXL 9.00 (Nov 5, 2021)

  • Speed Improvements:
  • ElementsXXL does not slow down displaying the main menus in Photoshop Elements 14 and higher anymore
  • Displaying many ElementsXXL dialogs is not slowed down anymore in Photoshop Elements 14 and higher after using the main menus many times.
  • Please note: You also have to update to LayerShop 2.03 (or higher), AdjustShop 1.06 (or higher) and Edge & Frame Galaxy 2.02 (or higher), otherwise a slowdown will be produced by these plugins, which also affects ElementsXXL.
  • Many dialogs display 30% faster
  • Subject Mask Caching:
  • The following features run faster after a subject mask was already calculates for a certain layer:
  • Background Blur, Enhance Skin, Smooth Skin, Select > Subject, Select > Background, Select > Skin, Select > Skin+, Image > Replace Background > Auto Select
  • New "Edit > Purge > Subject Masks" commands for deleting all cached subject masks which are stored as channels (1)
  • New "Edit > Preferences > ElementsXXL > No Subject Mask Caching" check box for deactivating it
  • Add Haze filter
  • Adds a haze/mist effect to shadows, highlights or the whole image
  • Texture Enhance filter
  • Makes texture areas more pronounced and visible
  • Adjusts the effect seperately in shadow and highlight areas
  • Texture Soften filter
  • Soften texture as well as skin areas to make them look more smooth
  • Adjusts the effect seperately in shadow and highlight areas
  • Skin Enhance filter:
  • For adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and color of skin areas
  • A skin mask is automatically created and can be adjusted
  • Smooth button for switching to the Skin Smooth filter
  • Preset feature wit 12 built-in presets
  • Select > Background (Photoshop Elements 2020 and higher only)
  • New Background command on the Select menu for selecting the image background without the main subject
  • Hue/Saturation Pro:
  • Filter and adjustment layer with an improved hue/saturation effect that avoids saturation artifacts and does not lower contrast.
  • 70 new presets
  • Six new color modes (known from Color Balance)
  • Faster switching between color tones with an icon bar
  • Feature for opening and saving preset
  • Legacy check box on the filter dialog for applying the effect of the classic filter
  • New Icon Bars:
  • Two icon bars are now displayed on the top bar below the main menus. 10 icons bar presets with a total of 125+ icons are availabe.
  • By default the Scripts, Actions and Render drop down menus are displayed (but with a different look) as well as new icons for running the most useful filters.
  • Icon bar for running AdjustShop features. Requires AdjustShop 1.05 or higher.
  • Icon bars for running LayersXXL/LayerShop features. LayerShop 2.02 or higher is required for some of them.
  • 3 Auto Color menu items on the "Enhance > Color Correction" sub menu for automatically removing color casts
  • Auto Correction panel:
  • Apply up to 20 automatic correction algorithms to a photo
  • Activate the Manual check box (or hold down the shift key) to display a dialog for manual editing
  • Undo Last and Undo All buttons for quickly undoing failed corrections and start from scratch
  • Support for images with 16-bit per channel:
  • Antialias
  • Auto Red Eye Fix
  • Background Blur
  • Clarity
  • Filter Gallery
  • HDR Toning
  • Multi Frequency Sharpen
  • Noise Reduction
  • Skin Smoother
  • Curves:
  • New Adjust sliders:
  • The sliders of the Adjust dialog are now available on the window of the Curves filter. This allows editing the curve via control points and sliders at the same time. Editing the control points resets the sliders to zero.
  • While dragging an Adjust slider the curve is now already updated.
  • New Colorize button on the Curves filter window for choosing a color for a color effect
  • Double clicking a channel icon resets the curve of the channel. Previously it was only possible to reset all channels at the same time.
  • Hold down the Alt key while dragging a control point to move all other controls points (except the first and last) at the some time.
  • The Adjust dialog (launched from the Adjustments panel) is smaller and occupies less screen space.
  • Bug Fix: The curve line is displayed smaller again on lowDPI screens
  • Shadows/Highlights:
  • New preset feature with 15 built-in presets
  • The previous settings are now restored when opening the filter
  • Smaller dialog
  • Bug Fix: The Preview check box works again
  • Color Balance:
  • 3 Auto buttons for removing color casts. They can be seperately applied to the shadows, midtones and highlights.
  • New Green Box mode which is nice for choosing cool and warm colors
  • Faster switching between modes with new icon bar. You can switch back to the old comb box with the "Combo boxes instead of icon bars" check box in the ElementsXXL Preferences.
  • Bug Fix: When editing the Color Balance adjustment layer on the Adjustments panel, the effect is not falsly reset anymore.
  • Channel Mixer:
  • Faster switching between modes with new icon bar. You can switch back to the old comb box with the "Combo boxes instead of icon bars" check box in the ElementsXXL Preferences.
  • Key Shortcuts dialog
  • Assign key shortcuts to any menu item
  • Bug Fix: The Alt + Ctl + Shift + E key shortcut is not triggered twice anymore.
  • Skin Smooth filter:
  • New Enhance button for switching to the Skin Enhance filter
  • Black & White filter
  • The previous settings are now restored when opening the filter
  • Highpass Sharpen:
  • New preset feature with 10 built-in presets
  • Smaller dialog
  • Fill Flash, HDR Toning & Antialias:
  • New preset feature with 10 built-in presets for each filter
  • Bug Fix: The Invert check box of Fill Flash works again
  • Improved Tool Mode:
  • When switching to Tool Mode the image zoom now stays the same.
  • Tool Mode now displays a progress bar after clicking OK.
  • Other New Features:
  • New "File > Close Others" menu item, which closes all open documents except the selected one.
  • New "File > Save a Copy" menu item
  • Copy to Document:
  • New commands that automatically resize the layers, channels and selection that are copied to the new document. They are scaled to compensate for the difference in size of both documents.
  • Bug Fix: The "Select Target Document" dialog shows now the correct document when selecting one in the list.
  • New "Layer > New > Add Layer From File" menu item, which adds a layer from a file
  • New "Layer > Rename Layers" dialog offering a search & replace feature for layer names
  • New "Layer > Smart Object > Reset Smart Object" menu item, which removes all transformations and smart filters from a smart object
  • New "View > Fit Layer(s) on Screen / 200% / Actual Size" menu items
  • New "Window > Images > Match All" command which avoids having to execute both Match menu items at the same time
  • New key shortcut: Shift + Alt + Ctl + A for selecting all layers in the Layers panel
  • Preferences: (2)
  • Bright UI Color option in the ElementsXXL Preferences which emulates the UI of Photoshop Elements 2022. Is set to bright by default in Photoshop Elements 2022 and higher. (1)
  • New "Display Save for Web Dialog" check box, which opens the Save For Web dialog when using the "Layer > Quick Export as" menu item. Altenatively you can also hold down the Shift key when clicking the menu item to do the same.
  • Changes:
  • If Photoshop Elements 2021/2022 blocks ElementXXL's filter plugin, a message now asks you to reinstall ElementsXXL in order to fix the problem.
  • Sometimes there was a crash on exit when using ElementsXXL and other of our plugins in Photoshop Elements 2021 & 2022. ElementsXXL now shuts down the other plugins to avoid that.
  • The Enhance menu was reorganized to display less menu items because of the bigger menu font in Photoshop Elements 2020 with hiDPI screens.
  • The Auto Saturation menu item was moved to the "Enhance > Color Correction" sub menu
  • The Auto Options menu item of the Enhance menu was moved to the Color Correction sub menu.
  • Some items were moved to the Sharpen and new Denoise sub menus.
  • The Sharpen sub menu was moved up.
  • The menu items of the Align, Distribute and Combine Shapes sub menu were added to the Arrange sub menu of the Layer menu. This helps to display less menu items because of the bigger menu font in Photoshop Elements 2020 with hiDPI screens.
  • For faster access the Skin and Skin+ menu items are now located on the main Select menu and not the "Selection From" sub menu.
  • In Photoshop Elements 2022 ElementXXL's Warp feature is not available anymore, because it is already built-in
  • "Used old Channel combo boxes" was renamed to "Combo boxes instead of icon bars" in the ElementsXXL preferences.

New in ElementsXXL 8.02 (Aug 18, 2021)

  • Blur Gallery:
  • Bug Fix: Clicking an eye icon does not crash Photoshop Elements anymore.
  • Bug Fix: Dragging the second knob of the Range slider works better now.
  • Bug Fix: Clicking the text boxes of the Range slider does not change the slider value anymore.
  • Bug Fix: Adjustment layer icons were previously not displayed when using the "Window > Adjustments" menu item
  • Bug Fix: The channel bar of Curves and Channel Mixer does not displays an unnecessary icon anymore
  • Bug Fix: The installation and uninstallation programs now checks if Photoshop Elements 2021 is running and asks you to close it. This makes sure that the (un)installation works.
  • The installation now deletes the registry keys that keep Photoshop Elements 2020/2021 from loading plugins that crashed 3 times.

New in ElementsXXL 8.01 (Feb 5, 2021)

  • The lens detection of the Auto Lens Correction feature was improved.
  • UI Improvements:
  • Blur Gallery UI improvements, e.g. improved slider behavior
  • You can now click and drag to switch between the channel items on the Curves and Channel Mixer dialogs.
  • Bug Fix: Various filters and dialogs do not produce flicker anymore when clicking OK or Cancel.
  • Bug Fix: The correct controls are shown, when the Adjustments panel is closed and displayed for the second time.
  • Preview Image:
  • Bug Fix: When using a medium or low resolution preview image, the image is not displayed smaller at higher image zooms anymore.
  • Bug Fix: Medium and low resolution preview images are now generated at an an image zoom of 100%.
  • Floating Windows:
  • Many ElementsXXL features produce much less flicker when using floating windows.
  • Bug Fix: The image zoom is now correctly restored after applying a filter (that uses a preview image) when using floating windows.
  • Quick and Guided Mode:
  • Most menu items are disabled in Guided Mode now, which avoid problems.
  • Bug Fix: In Quick Mode the image is not cropped when applying ElementsXXL filters anymore.
  • Bug Fix: In Quick Mode various features now let you click on the image for setting points, grabbing a color or adjusting control points. But the View combo box of Quick Mode has to be set to "After Only" for this to work.
  • "No New > File Features" check box in the ElementsXXL Preference to deactivate New functionality on the File menu that causes problems on some computers.
  • Bug Fix: Some presets did not appear in Photoshop Elements 2021
  • There are another 14 days to use the trial version

New in ElementsXXL 8.00 (Oct 15, 2020)

  • 223 new features
  • 185 new presets
  • Support for Photoshop Elements 2021
  • Up to 400% faster rendering of 19 filters with the new Preview Image feature in the ElementsXXL Preferences:
  • By default the Preview Image feature is now set to "Medium Resolution" which means up to 200% faster rendering for 19 filters.
  • The "High Resolution" option corresponds to the old "Preview Image" check box. The new Medium and Low Resolution options makes filters render up to 200% or 400% faster than the default high resolution option. The preview image may look a bit pixelated with the Low Resolution option though.
  • The following 20 filters are supported: Background Blur, Black & White (16-bit/channel), Blur Gallery, Channel Mixer (16-bit/channel), Color Balance (16-bit/channel), Curves, Exposure (16-bit/channel), Fill Flash, HDR Toning, High Pass Sharpen, Lighting Effects, Micro Contrast, Multi-Frequency Sharpen, Perspective Warp, Range Adjust, Selective Color (16-bit/channel), Shadow/Highlight, Skin Smoother, Warp, Vibrance (16-bit/channel).
  • Exceptions:
  • Highpass Sharpen and Multi-Frequency Sharpen always use a high resolution preview image if a lower resolution option is set in the ElementsXXL Preferences. This makes sure that the sharpen effect can be viewed correctly.
  • Blur Gallery always uses a medium resolution preview image if no preview image or a high res preview image is set in the ElementsXXL Preferences. This makes sure that the rendering is fast enough.
  • New: Noise Reduction filter:
  • Removes noise with the help of Surface, Edges and Color sliders
  • New: Skin Smoother filter
  • Makes skin look smooth and at the same time lets you emphasize skin details.
  • Offers three methods of skin smoothing for dealing with various types of photos
  • Much more effective than the simple Smooth Skin filter that was added in Photoshop Elements 2020, which only offers one smoothing method and only affects faces but not body skin.
  • 10 presets for all types of skin and feature to save your own presets
  • The Mask Background check box only works in Photoshop Elements 2020 and higher. It avoids that background areas with a similar color as skin are affected too.
  • New: Blur Gallery filter
  • Field Blur: Highly flexible blur effect by setting blur spots with different radius
  • Iris Blur: Produce vignette-style blur effects and miniature effects
  • Tilt-Shift: Create vertical blur effects and simulate tilt-shift lenses
  • Spin Blur: Blur spinning circular objects like car tires
  • Add bokeh effects and add artistic noise
  • ElementsXXL's Blur Gallery offers a preset feature (Photoshop's Blur Gallery does not).
  • ElementsXXL's Blur Gallery keeps its old settings when running it again (Photoshop's Blur Gallery does not).
  • New: Multi-Frequency Sharpen filter
  • Sharpens small, medium and large details in an image at the same time
  • The overall sharpen amount can be adjusted as well as the sharpen amount for each of the three details sizes. The radius values are automatically calculated.
  • New: Background Blur filter:
  • Only blurs the background area of e.g. a portrait photo
  • Requires Photoshop Elements 2020 (or higher) for automatic background masking. Otherwise you have to manually create a selection of the background before running this filters
  • New: "Camera Raw Filter" menu item on the Filter menu:
  • Requires MetaRaw or better CameraXXL to appear, because it calls MetaRaw or CameraXXL to run this feature. Normally this feature is accessible from the File > Automation Tools sub menu, but ElementsXXL places it on the Filter menu for easier access.
  • New: Selection Features:
  • New "Selection From > Skin / Skin+" menu items for selecting skin areas in the current image
  • The Select > Modify sub menu offers 14 new menu items for removing shadows, midtone, highlight and skin areas from an existing selection, converting a selection into various shapes or adding a soft edge to it. Additionally you can turn a selection into a row or column selection.
  • New: Smart Object features:
  • New "Convert To Layer" menu item on the Layer > Smart Object sub menu. It converts a smart object into a layer or layer group and removes the smart object. The old "Unwrap Content" only copies the layers out of a smart object but does not delete it.
  • Smart filter support for Luminar 4 and Exposure X5
  • Enhanced Channel Mixer:
  • New UI with Color Circle mode
  • New icon bar for faster switching between channels
  • The Channel Mixer adjustment layer can now be edited on the Adjustments panel
  • 65 new Channel Mixer presets
  • New 100% button for setting the sum of all visible sliders to 100% to avoid a brightness change.
  • Enhanced Curves dialog:
  • Redesigned and more functional dialog
  • The four Curve tools are now available on the Adjustments panel
  • Equalize now works with all channels and not just RGB. It is applied to the currently selected channel.
  • Faster channel switching with a new icon bar (replacing the Channels combo box)
  • The control points are now round, bigger and better visible.
  • You can now hold down the Ctrl key and click on a control point to delete it.
  • Colored background gradients are displayed in the diagram indicating the effect of the curve adjustment
  • New Display button which displays the new Curve Display Options dialog replacing the old check box of the same name.
  • New Gradient check box on the Curve Display Options dialog for (de)activating the background gradient of the curves diagram.
  • On the Adjustments panel the Auto Options feature was moved to the new icon menu
  • Bug Fix: The eye dropper tools of the Curves filter do not remove the preview image anymore.
  • Bug Fix: No more cursor flicker when using the a Curves tool and the zoom tool is active.
  • Extended Lighting Effects:
  • New Volumetric light type
  • 5 new Lighting Effects presets
  • Drag the handles or outline of spot lights directly on the image to change their width, height and angle.
  • You can now click on the image to add a new light spot, which has the same properties as the previous one.
  • You can now use the Del and Backspace keys to delete the selected light spot.
  • You can now hold down the Alt key and click on the Cancel button to reset all settings.
  • Special mouse cursors for certain actions are now shown when moving the mouse cursor over the image.
  • Bug Fix: The color property is now correctly transfered when using the "Paste To All Lights" sub menu
  • Bug Fix: The "Paste All Properties to" sub menu works now.
  • Extended Color Balance:
  • 50 new Color Balance presets
  • Faster switching between Shadows, Midtones and Highlights sliders in Default mode.
  • The Mode setting of Color Balance is now saved and restored when restarting Photoshop Elements.
  • Wider sliders in Default mode
  • Bug Fix: The non-default modes of Color Balance did not work correctly for 16-bit images if the "Use native filters for 16-bit images" check box in the ElementsXXL Preferences was deactivated.
  • Color Lookup:
  • 55 new Color Lookup presets
  • Extended Highpass Sharpen:
  • Highpass Sharpen works with 16-bit/channel images
  • The controls of the Remove group are not available for 16-bit images.
  • Smaller dialog
  • Extended Fill Flash:
  • Fill Flash works with 16-bit/channel images
  • Smaller dialog
  • Improved Warp, Perspective Warp and Perspective Crop:
  • The Warp and Perspective Warp render faster by using a preview image.
  • The Warp, Perspective Warp and Perspective Crop dialogs now have OK and Cancel buttons (instead of check mark and cross icons) and a bigger title bar.
  • Improved Chromatic Aberration Removal:
  • New 100% Zoom button for viewing the effect at 100% image zoom
  • It is now possible to use the scroll bars or hand tool to scroll the image and see the effect in the corners
  • Restores its settings when running it again even after Photoshop Elements was restarted.
  • Improved Clarity filter:
  • Renders faster when changing slider values
  • Enhanced Adjustments Panel:
  • New icon menu on the Adjustments panel (below the panel menu icon) when ElementsXXL controls are displayed. It contains these menu items:
  • Auto Options: Shows the Auto Options dialog (Only if a Curves adjustment layer is selected).
  • Curves Display Options: Shows the dialog of the same name (Only if a Curves adjustment layer is selected).
  • Display Adjustment Layer Dialogs: Activates the option on the ElementsXXL Preferences with the same name.
  • Show Icons: Displays the icons on the Adjustments panel again for adding another adjustment layer.
  • Help: Shows an explanation of the feature in the manual
  • New icon at the top of the Adjustments panel (when ElementsXXL controls are displayed) for showing the adjustment layer icons again. Works like the "Show Icons" menu item of the icon menu.
  • The full height of the Adjustments panel is now used by the ElementsXXL controls.
  • Bug Fix: With certain screen settings some icons were previosuly not displayed on the Adjustment panel.
  • Enhanced Usability:
  • Double clicking the labels resets the values of sliders and blend mode combo boxes on the following dialogs and panels:
  • Antialias, Black & White, Blend Pro, Blur Gallery, Brush, Chromatic Aberration Removal, Channel Mixer, Clarity, Color Balance, Color Lookup, Color Range, Content Aware, Curves Adjust, Curve Equalize, Exposure, Fade, Fade Pro, Fill Flash, Fill Layer, Fit Image, Focus, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpening, Image Size, Lighting Effects, Match Color, Micro Contrast, Noise Reduction, Properties, Range Adjust, Selective Color, Shadows/Highlights, Skin Smoother, Tracking, Vibrance, Warp.
  • Support for zoom key shortcuts (Ctrl + 0 / 1 / + / -) when these dialogs are displayed: Black & White, Blend Pro, Channel Mixer, Chromatic Aberrations, Color Balance, Content-Aware, Fade, Fade Pro, Fill Layer/Selection, Shadows/Highlights, Tracking, Range Adjust.
  • Support for the Fit on Screen (Ctrl + 0) key shortcut when these dialogs are displayed: Antialias, Blur Gallery, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lighting Effects, Micro Contrast, Noise Reduction, Perspective Warp, Skin Smooth, Warp
  • The Match Color dialog now allows applying the effect with the Enter key and exit with the Esc key. The zoom key shortcuts (Ctrl + 0 / 1 / + / -) work too. You can now also hold down the Alt key and click on the Cancel button to reset all settings.
  • The "Add Color Lookup Pattern" and "Export > Color Lookup Table" dialogs allow using the Enter and Esc keys to apply or exit.
  • Improved ActionsXXL Support:
  • The controls on the Adjustments panel are updated correctly now when ActionsXXL creates an adjustment layer.
  • These features can now be recoreded by ActionsXXL: Clarity, Content-Aware Fill, Lighting Effects, Range Adjust, Unwrap Contents
  • These features are correctly recorded with ActionsXXL: Antialias, Curves filter & adjustment layer, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lens Correction, Replace Color adjustment layer, Shadows/Highlights
  • All new ElementsXXL 8 feature can also be recorded with ActionsXXL
  • ElementsXXL Preferences:
  • "Use old Channel combo boxes" check box for deactivating the icon bars on the Curves and Channel Mixer dialog and displaying the old combo boxes for switching between channels.
  • New Channel Mixer option on the Classic page for deactivating the new Channel Mixer dialog
  • It is not possible to deactivate the dialog skin anymore. The Deactivate Skin check box was removed from the ElementsXXL.
  • The ElementsXXL Preference settings are now saved when clicking OK on the ElementsXXL Preferences dialog. Previously they were saved when exiting Photoshop Elements and in the case of a crash they were not saved at all.
  • Bug Fixes & Other Improvements:
  • Smaller dialogs for these features: Black & White, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen & Micro Contrast
  • The Reduce Noise filter was renamed to "Basic Denoise".
  • New ? buttons on the Exposure, Vibrance and Selective Color dialogs which are shown for 16-bit images by ElementsXXL if native filters are not used.
  • The Image > Split Layer sub menu was moved below the Channels sub menu
  • Bug Fix: The Radius values of the Shadows/Highlights filter are now correctly applied when using a preview image.
  • Bug Fix: Micro Contrast shows a more accurate preview for the Grainy method.
  • Bug Fix: The following filters now work correctly when the maximum number of history steps is reached: Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lighting Effects, Micro Contrast, Shadows/Highlights.
  • Bug Fix: The Preview check box of the Antialias filter works correctly now.
  • Bug Fix: The Smart Object > Unwrap Contents command previously did not recreate the background layer of a smart object.
  • Bug Fix: Selecting the Vibrance adjustment layer does not display the modal dialog in addition to the Vibrance controls on the Adjustments panel anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The "Display Adjustment Layer Dialogs" setting in the ElementsXXL Preferences was previously not restored when running Photoshop Elements again.
  • Bug Fix: It is not possible anymore to display two or more color dialogs at the same time when clicking on a color box on the Adjustments panel.
  • Bug Fix: The fx icon on the Layers panel is correctly displayed again without UI Scaling.
  • Bug Fix: All radio buttons of a group are now correctly displayed when one is clicked.
  • Bug Fix: The ? button of Range Adjust works now.

New in ElementsXXL 7.03 (Jun 10, 2020)

  • The Auto-Align Layers and Auto-Blend Layers dialogs shows up much faster
  • Simplify Layer works faster with multiple layers
  • UI Enhancement: Disabled buttons are displayed more faded
  • Bug Fix: Potential crash on exit problem was removed.
  • Support for LayerShop 2:
  • The Auto-Align, Auto-Blend and Blend Pro menu items are now provided by LayerShop and not ElementsXXL.
  • Fixes some menu positioning problems

New in ElementsXXL 7.02 (Mar 2, 2020)

  • ElementsXXL 7 is now compatible with Photoshop Elements 11 and 12:
  • These new features does not work: The Range Adjust adjustment layer, the Content-Aware Fill dialog, vector masks cannot be created for 16-bit images.
  • The Pen Pro tool asks you to enter a path name as a final step in case the workpath is currently used. This makes sure that it can be edited again, because ElementsXXL cannot read work paths in PSE 11/12.
  • Pen Pro feature:
  • It easier to click or drag anchor points now.
  • The round handles are a bit smaller than the round anchor points to distinguish them better.
  • UI Enhancements:
  • The look of tab buttons in Dark Mode was enhanced.
  • Smaller UI fixes
  • The manuals were updated for Photoshop Elements 11 and 12.
  • Bug Fix: Only modal dialogs of adjustment layers are now run from the "Render > Add Adjustment Layer" dialog to avoid locking up Photoshop Elements.
  • The trial version can be used for another 14 days.

New in ElementsXXL 7.01 (Jan 28, 2020)

  • The trial version can be used for another 14 days.
  • For some dialogs the OK and Cancel buttons do not work anymore while the preview is rendered, which avoids problems like a closed document or left-over layer. This precaution is now applied to: Anti-Alias, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Match Color, Micro-Contrast, Focus Areas etc.
  • The ElementsXXL icons on the tool bar and Layers panel have a higher resolution and look a bit differently if UI Scaling is active.

New in ElementsXXL 7.0 (Oct 31, 2019)

  • Support for Photoshop Elements 2020
  • Support for Photoshop Elements 11 and 12 was dropped. For Photoshop Elements 1-12 please use ElementsXXL 1-6.
  • Adjustments Panel:
  • The following ElementsXXL adjustment layers can now be edited on the Adjustments panel: Curves, Exposure, Vibrance, Color Balance, Black & White and Selective Colors.
  • Simply select an adjustment layer in the Layers panel and you can immediatelly edit it if the Adjustments panel is visible. Double clicking the layer thumbnail is not necessary anymore, but can be done to display the Adjustments panel.
  • If you prefer the old modal dialogs, you can ativate the "Display adjustment layer dialogs" check box in the ElementsXXL Preferences or hold down the Ctrl key when clicking the appropriate menu item or icon.
  • Shift click on any icon to run its the filter version instead of the adjustment layer.
  • For images with 16-bit/channel the filter version is automatically executed instead of the adjustment layer version
  • The Adjustments panel now lets you run all AdjustShop fill and adjustment layers. AdjustShop 1.01 is at least required for it to work.
  • Range Adjust filter and addjustment layer:
  • Selectively adjust the tone and color of an image area
  • Click on the image with eyedropper to target a certain image area
  • Use certain hue, saturation and luminance ranges for masking
  • Grayscaled mask preview
  • You can create a selection before applying it for targeting certain image areas even better.
  • Enhanced Color Balance filter and addjustment layer:
  • Many more controls for Color Balance
  • Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Temperature sliders in addition to Red, Green and Blue sliders
  • Five different color controls that can be used instead of the standard three sliders: Color Wheel, Color Circle, Hue Box, Brightness Box and Saturation Box
  • Pen Pro feature:
  • Offers 7 different pen tools
  • Lets you create paths, masks, selections and shapes and edit paths and shapes
  • Options for defining the pen width and color
  • Content-Aware Fill dialog:
  • Lets you define the sampling area with the brush tool thus producing a better content-aware fill result
  • Preview the content-aware effect while editing its options
  • Click the
  • Preview button multiple times for variations of the content-aware effect
  • Fade Pro:
  • Blends the previous history step with the selected layer
  • Offers 36 new blend modes compared to Fade
  • Opacity values of 101 to 200% which increase the intensity of the blending for more creative effects
  • Many new controls for fading the last applied effect: Luminance, Color, Saturation, color box, Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Tonal, Linear, Circular.
  • Blend Pro:
  • Blends two selected layers or the currently selected layer with the layer underneath it. The top layer is filled with the blending result.
  • Offers 36 new blend modes not available otherwise in Photoshop Elements
  • Opacity values of 101 to 200% which increase the intensity of the blending for more creative effects
  • Many different controls for blending two layers: Luminance, Color, Saturation, color box, Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Tonal, Linear, Circular.
  • Split Layer > Frequency:
  • Dialog with 8 new filter options (Median, Smart Blur, Surface Blur, Lens Blur, Dust & Scratches, Reduce Noise, Anisotropic, Clarity) and a Luminosity check box.
  • The effect of the Gaussian Blur filter can now be viewed on the image.
  • The Frequency menu item was moved to the top of the Split Layer sub menu.
  • Bug Fix: Split Layer > Frequency: When clicking the Cancel button on the filter dialog, the rendering is stopped.
  • Presets:
  • 115 new presets for Black & White
  • 150 new presets for Curves
  • Curves:
  • The Curves adjustment layer offers 13 new channels. All the channels of the Curves filter. (13)
  • The Channel Overlay checkbox now draws all used curves and not only the RGB curves. The non-RGB curves are displayed dotted.
  • The Equalize and Adjust dialogs now also have a Preview check box.
  • When runing Curves again, the previously selected channel is displayed.
  • The Curves dialog is a bit less wide and the Clipping Mask check box was moved to the left.
  • Bug Fix: Previously a crash occured when using a color picker on the Curves dialog if a layer mask existed.
  • Bug Fix: The values of the Input and Output text boxes of the Curves dialog were previously swapped.
  • Bug Fix: The Input and Output text boxes of the Curves dialog were previously not updated after switching channels.
  • Color Match:
  • Now also works if only one document is opened.
  • Bug Fix: Previously a crash occured when applying the Match Color dialog to a layer with a layer mask.
  • Bug Fix: The Desaturate check box works again with Local Range mode.
  • Paths panel:
  • New Pen Pro button which activates the new Pen Pro tool.
  • The Pen and Select buttons were merged. Click the Pen button twice to activate the Select tool.
  • Filters & adjustment layers:
  • Support for saving/restoring filter settings when exiting and restarting Photoshop Elements. The following features support it: Antialias, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Micro Contrast.
  • The following features now display a progress bar during rendering: HDR Toning, Fill Flash, Highpass Sharpen, Micro Contrast, Antialias
  • A Clipping Mask check box was added to the Color Balance and Black & White adjustment layer dialogs.
  • Bug Fix: The layer styles of ElementsXXL adjustment layers are not deleted anymore when editing the adjustment layers.
  • Bug Fix: When choosing a new color on the Black & White dialog, the preview is not updated unnecessarily anymore if the Tint check box is not activated.
  • Bug Fix: When using the Colors combo box on ElementsXXL's own Selective Color dialog, the preview is not updated unnecessarily anymore.
  • General Editing:
  • New "Edit > Paste Special > Paste As Smart Object" command including the key shortcut Ctrl + Alt +V for it.
  • New "Image > Scale > Delete Hidden Pixels" command
  • The "Edit > Copy To Document > Selected Layers / Selected Area" commands now also works with 16-bit documents. If you want to copy a 8-bit image to a 16-bit image, you are asked to reduce the 16-bit image to 8-bit.
  • The "New > Image From Clipboard" menu item now allows creating a 16-bit/channel document and does not ask for reducing the image depth anymore.
  • Vector masks can not be created for 16-bit/channel images
  • In Photoshop Elements 2020 the Auto-Select button on the Replace Background dialog now automatically selects an object in the image. If that does not work out, you can still draw a selection as in previous versions.
  • The following features now display the color dialog of Windows or Photoshop Elements depending on the appropriate preferences setting: Curves, Fill Layer/Selection, Lighting Effects, Replace Background
  • Bug Fix: "Image > Mode > 16-bit/Channel" previously did not work correctly with a selection and the "Open New Document" checkbox activated.
  • Bug Fix: The "Edit > Copy To Document > Alpha Channels" command works in Photoshop Elements 2019 now.
  • Bug Fix: When saving a brush preset, the correct folder is now set by default in the file dialog.
  • UI Enhancements:
  • Dark Mode option on the ElementsXXL Preferences dialog. It only darkens the native dialogs of ElementsXXL. The hidden dialogs of Photoshop Elements, which ElementsXXL displays, do not support dark mode.
  • Slider styles were added to 20 dialogs: Curves, Match Color, Lighting Effects, Micro Contrast, Clarity, HDR Toning, Fill Flash, Highpass Sharpen, Antialias, Cromatic Aberration Removal, Properties panel, Focus Area, Color Lookup, Fill Layer/Selection, Fade, Shadow/Highlights, Brush panel, Blending Options, Vibrance (own dialog), Selective Color (own dialog)
  • The sliders of the Photoshop Elements skin are are now 8% wider providing more room for dragging sliders.
  • The height of the text boxes of all sliders was reduced.
  • The preset menu icon uses a cog wheel look now.
  • The seperation lines of combo boxes are not selectable anymore.
  • ElementXXL's own Color Range dialog uses better looking eyedropper icons
  • When using ElementsXXL 7 and Adjustshop 1.01 (and higher) together in Photoshop Elements the following features are now displayed by ElementsXXL 7: Curves, Fill Flash (filter only), HDR Toning (filter only), Micro Contrast, Clarity, Highpass Sharpen (filter only), Match Color, Lighting Effects (filter only), Antialias, Split Layer.
  • Bug Fix: The welcome message on first run uses the Photoshop Elements skin again
  • Bug Fix: The Opacity slider of the Color Lookup dialog is not cutoff at the top anymore for 200% UI Scaling.
  • Bug Fix: The Channels/Paths/Properties panel is now hidden when minimizing the Photoshop Elements window and does not prevent it from being restored again
  • When using no UI Scaling:
  • Bug Fix: The initial ElementsXXL progress window is not displayed too big anymore.
  • Bug Fix: Icons were displayed too big on the Channels, Smart Filters, HistogramsXXXL and Sccopes panels as well as the Lighting Effects dialog.
  • Bug Fix: The Light Source list column of the Lighting Effects dialog is not too wide anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The ElementsXXL trial version now tells AdjustShop if it expired, so that AdjustShop displays all menu items.

New in ElementsXXL 6.06 (Aug 16, 2019)

  • Bug Fix: The message box that is displayed on first run crashed Photoshop Elements on startup. This problem was introduced in ElementsXXL 6.05 and is now avoided by removing the skin from the displayed dialog.
  • Bug Fix: The Levels and Brightness/Contrast icons on the Adjustments dialog were previously swapped.
  • Bug Fix: An activated Invert check box setting was not restored when opening the Fill Flash dialog again.

New in ElementsXXL 6.05 (Jul 24, 2019)

  • After the AdjustShop trial ended or AdjustShop was deactivated, all ElementsXXL menu items now appear again. For this to work at least AdjustShop 1.01 is needed, which is not available yet.
  • Filters:
  • Bug Fix: The following filters work correctly with a selection now: Antialias, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen
  • Bug Fix: When applying the Lighting Effects and Fill Flash filters not to the top layer, the top layer previously received the effect on clicking OK.
  • Bug Fix: The Method combo box of Micro Contrast was previously deselected, when applying Micro Contrast on an 8-bit/channel image, choosing the Grainy method and then applying it to a 16-bit/channel image.
  • Bug Fix: The Antialias filter sometimes rendered the effect again on OK.
  • Curves:
  • Bug Fix: The Equalize feature of the Curves dialog previously produced a strange effect when running it for a second time.
  • Bug Fix: Sometimes the histogram was not displayed when using a grayscaled image.
  • Bug Fix: The Adjust button on the Curves dialog is now localized to German
  • Replace Color adjustment layer:
  • Bug Fix: The Replace Color adjustment layer now works correctly if a non-pixel layer is selected when it is applied
  • Bug Fix: The layer name of the Replace Color adjustment layer is correctly set and localized now
  • Photoshop Elements Skin:
  • Bug Fix: PSE 11/12: If a HiDPI system setting is used, the following icons are drawn bigger now: The attention signs on the HistogramXXL/Scopes panel, the light spots and eye icons of the Lighting Effects filter and the eye icons on the Channels and Smartfilters panels.

New in ElementsXXL 6.04 (May 23, 2019)

  • Preferences:
  • The crop preset and layers context menu features are now deactivated by default to avoid problems on some computers. They have to be manually reactivated from the ElementsXXL Preferences dialog after a fresh installation.
  • Bug Fix: The "No Layer Context Menu Items" check box in the ElementsXXL Preferences did not work previously.
  • Filters & Adjustment Layers:
  • Support for using Luminar 3 as a smart filter
  • Bug Fix: If only a part of the image is visible, the preview is now correctly displayed for the following filters: Micro Contrast, HDR Toning, Fill Flash, Highpass Sharpen.
  • The Replace Color adjustment layer does not store its settings in the layer name anymore.
  • The Anti-Alias filter now shows the correct end result after clicking OK. The preview image feature was disabled for this purpose, so when changing slider settings the rendering may take longer in some cases.
  • If deleting a preset does not work, an error message is now displayed for the Curves, Lighting Effects and Black & White dialogs.
  • Curves:
  • User-saved presets are now displayed at the top of the combo box on the Curves dialog.
  • Bug Fix: Sometimes when clicking the Auto or Options buttons the preview image was previously removed.
  • Bug Fix: When running the Curves adjustment layer while another adjustment layer was selected, the RGB histogram was previously not displayed.
  • Bug Fix: All channels of the Curves filter are now reset when choosing a built-in preset from the Preset combo box.
  • The Curves dialog now uses hires icons and cursors with 200% UI scaling.
  • When deleting a preset on the Curves dialog, you are now prompted to confirm it.
  • Lighting Effects:
  • Bug Fix: When running the Lighting Effects filter again, sometimes the Angle parameter was changed. This is fixed now.
  • Bug Fix: With activated preview image feature the image is fit on screen when running the Lighting Effects filter. This makes sure that the lights are rendered correctly.
  • Deactivating the Outline check box now also hides the center circle of each light
  • The center circle of the selected light is now displayed larger.
  • Bug Fix: The ? button now works for the Lighting Effects dialog
  • A few sentances were added in the Lighting Effects section of the manual.
  • Split Layer:
  • Bug Fix: When applying the split layer features to a smart object, the new layers are not smart objects anymore.
  • Bug Fix: A selection is removed when applying the split layer features to avoid overexposed areas outside the selection.
  • Export > Color Lookup Table
  • Bug Fix: It does not crash Photoshop Elements anymore if the 3DLUTs preset folder does not exist.
  • It now displays an error message if no pattern is used and no adjustment layer added.
  • Replace Background:
  • Bug Fix: After undoing step 2 in the History panel, the buttons of step 2 did not work anymore. This is fixed now.
  • Bug Fix: The Image, Color, Transparent, Soft, Hard and Off buttons only add a single step to the History panel now.
  • Bug Fix: The Hard and Soft buttons work correctly now.
  • Bug Fix: The Brush, Burn and Dodge buttons now always select the layer mask.
  • Bug Fix: The Hard and Soft buttons only work now if a background was already added.
  • Photoshop Elements Skin:
  • Bug Fix: The slider knobs do to not flicker while draging anymore and have a brighter color when focused.
  • Bug Fix: When not using UI Scaling the slider knobs of the Photoshop Elements skin are now more circular and less oval.
  • Various dialogs now use a hires menu icon with 200% UI scaling.

New in ElementsXXL 6.03 (Feb 19, 2019)

  • The HistogramXXL/Scopes panel window can now be resized.
  • Curves:
  • The Curves filter dialog displays almost instantly now, because it calculates the histograms much faster.
  • Bug Fix: Occasional crash problem removed that occured when appyling the Curves adjustment layer
  • Bug Fix: When clicking the Adjust button on the Curves dialog, the Channels combo box is not automatically set back to RGB anymore.
  • Bug Fix: All channels of the Curves Adjust dialog work correctly now.
  • Lighting Effects:
  • The spot handles of unselected spots are now drawn less pronounced. This makes it easier to identify the currently selected Point-type light spots.
  • Bug Fix: When clicking on one of the color boxes, the current color is now automatically shown in the color dialog.
  • Bug Fix: When exiting Lighting Effects, the window of another application is not displayed anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The position of the Lighting Effects dialog is now restored.
  • Auto Saturation:
  • Bug Fix: Auto Saturation does not crash anymore when applied to a layer.
  • Bug Fix: Auto Saturation can be applied to smart objects again, but prompts for simplifiying the smart object.
  • Bug Fix: Auto Saturation can only be applied to RGB images.
  • Render Feature:
  • Bug Fix: Applying all adjustment layers from the "Render > Add Adjustment Layer" dialog works again.
  • Bug Fix: The "Render > Add Smart Filter" dialog previously did not work anymore after using the "Render > Add Adjustment Layer" dialog.
  • Replace Background
  • The Replace Background dialog was made smaller to fits on a screen with 768 pixel height.
  • The Replace Background window can now be moved by dragging on the window background in addition to the title bar.
  • Localization Improvements:
  • The Photoshop Elements skin now supports non-Western characters.
  • The following dialogs now fully support non-Western characters: Brush panel, Channels panel, Curve Adjust dialog.
  • Bug Fix: No more crash for the Find Layer dialog with some localized versions of Photoshop Elements, e.g. Russian.
  • Bug Fix: The Scripts/Actions/Render buttons are positioned a bit more to the right to comply with some localized versions of Photoshop Elements 14 and higher.
  • Bug Fix: Some smaller localization problems were fixed.

New in ElementsXXL 6.02 (Dec 30, 2018)

  • The trial period was renewed. You can test it for another 14 days.
  • The Highpass Sharpen filter offers a new "100% Look" check box for viewing the sharpening effect at 100% zoom. Using it may decrease the rendering speed, because it deactivates the preview image feature.
  • The Simplify Layer command now supports multiple layers.
  • Faster preview update for the Lighting Effects filter
  • Bug Fix: Applying the Clarity filter works correctly again.
  • Bug Fix: The Warp command does not crash anymore when applying it to a text layer. However, the Custom mode of Warp does not work with text layers. To use it anyway, you have to convert the text layer into a shape.
  • Bug Fix: Auto Saturation cannot be applied to smart objects anymore to avoid a crash.
  • Bug Fix: The Edit > Fill dialog works again when applying it to a selection on the background layer.
  • Bug Fix: The Auto-Align Layers and Auto-Blend Layers commands now ask for simplifying smart objects, which makes sure that they work.
  • Bug Fix: Appyling the Micro Contrast filter to a layer mask previously copied the layer mask into the layer image. This does not happen anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The Calculations command now fits the resulting document to the screen.
  • Curves:
  • Bug Fix: Entering a value in the edit boxes of Curves Adjust dialog had no effect previously.
  • Bug Fix: The hand tool of the Curves feature now updates the Input and Output text boxes when clicking on the image. This way you can see the channel values while clicking and dragging.
  • General Filter Improvements:
  • You can now use the Enter and Esc keys with the following filters: Antialias, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Micro Contrast.
  • You can now click the Cancel button with pressed down Alt key to reset the settings for the following filters: Antialias, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Micro Contrast.
  • The filter dialog now vanishes right after clicking the OK or Cancel buttons for the following filters: Antialias, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Micro Contrast.
  • Bug Fix: Pressing the Enter and Esc keys works more reliably for the following dialogs: Lighting Effects, Warp, Perspective Warp, Perspective Crop.
  • Bug Fix: To avoid problems the following filters now ask for simplifying smart objects: Antialias, Auto Lens Correction, Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lighting Effects, Micro Contrast, Reduce Noise.
  • Bug Fix: The effect is now applied to the whole layer image and not the area of the layer mask, when applying the following filters: Clarity, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen.
  • Bug Fix: The non-linear history feature is now automatically deactivated while using the following filters: Antialias, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lighting Effects.
  • Bug Fix: It is not possible anymore to run the following filters while a filter dialog is already displayed: Antialias, Clarity, Curves, Fill Flash, HDR Toning, Highpass Sharpen, Lighting Effects, Warp, Perspective Warp, Perspective Crop.
  • Bug Fix: The following filters cannot be applied to images with 16-bit/channel anymore, because they do not support it: Fill Flash, HDR Toning.

New in ElementsXXL 6.01 (Nov 16, 2018)

  • Bug Fix: No more crash with activated "Always open ... in Camera Raw" options
  • Bug Fix: The "Always Open ... in Camera Raw" features now do not open JPEGs or TIFFs, which are already automatically opened in Camera Raw, twice in Camera Raw anymore.
  • Bug Fix: "Micro Contrast" does not appear on the progress window of other filters anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The icons on the Adjustments panel were swapped.
  • Bug Fix: Double clicking the layer and mask thumbs on the Layers panel works better, especially for portrait orientated images and for Photoshop Elements 13 and higher.

New in ElementsXXL 6.0 (Oct 30, 2018)

  • 201 new features
  • Support for Photoshop Elements 2019
  • Filters:
  • Lighting Effects filter:
  • Adds sophisticated light effects to a photo
  • 20 light presets
  • Shadow effects are possible with negative Intensity slider values. (Not available in the original Lighting Effects filter.)
  • Menu items for pasting light properties, centering, aligning and more (Not available in the original Lighting Effects filter)
  • Option for avoiding overexposure (Not available in the original Lighting Effects filter)
  • Renders faster than the Photoshop version
  • Clarity filter:
  • Like the Clarity effect in Camera Raw, but with Shadow and Highlight control
  • Fill Flash filter:
  • Simulates the effect of softly lighting a daylight scene with the flash
  • Lets you lighten dark areas and darken bright areas
  • Allows creating a backlight effect
  • HDR Toning filter:
  • Produces HDR-like effects
  • Similar to the Shadows/Highlights filter but produces a more natural look
  • Simple mode for quick results and Complex mode for more control
  • Highpass Sharpen filter:
  • Sophisticated sharpening without the risk of oversharpening
  • Lets you reduce the sharpness in non-edge, shadow or highlight areas
  • Sliders for adjusting the white and black halo of the sharpening effect
  • Reduce color noise that occured during the sharpening process
  • Anti-Alias filter:
  • Adds an anti-alias effect if only black & white pixels are available
  • For color images it produces a water color effect.
  • Enhance > Auto Saturation feature:
  • Analyzes the image and reduces or increases the saturation accordingly.
  • Improved Match Color filter:
  • New Saturation slider, which replaces the old Intensity slider. It works better in Global Light mode, but still has the same effect in Local Range mode as the old Intensity slider.
  • New Brightness and Contrast sliders, which allow better adjustments.
  • Now allows selecting a layer as a source for color matching, which makes it possible to color match the current layer with another layer in the same document.
  • Supports a selection in another document for more sophisticated color matching. This does not work if the source is the same document. Then the Color Match filter is only appplied to the selected area.
  • Supports colorizing layers with transparent areas
  • The Global Light mode renderes faster.
  • Bug Fix: The effect preview of the Color Match filter now shows correctly for layers with transparent areas.
  • Improved Image Preview Feature:
  • The image zoom is now restored after exiting all supported filters
  • Bug Fix: In PSE 14-2019 the image was scrolled away after exiting a filter if the image was previously not fit on screen
  • Bug Fix: Preview image zoom is now always 100%.
  • Smart Filters:
  • The Smart Filters panel is not deactivated anymore if no smart object is selected. When applying a smart filter the current layer is automatically converted to a smart object.
  • Support for 23 new smart filters and 12 newer versions of smart filters:
  • Alienskin Exposure X3 & X4
  • LaserSoft SDRx
  • ON1 Effects 2018, PhotoRaw 2018
  • RC Filters (12 filters)
  • New Redfield Plugins: Umatix, Fractalius 3D, Fractialus G4, Sharplet, Unobtanium, Unobtanium HD
  • Updated Redfield Plugins: Abstraction TX, Emblazer, FaceControl II, Fractalius 2, iEmboss, Jama 2000, Lattice XP, Perfectum, Plasteroid, Ripples Magic, SketchMaster, Texturation 3D
  • Curves filter & adjustment layer:
  • New Adjust dialog with seven sliders for adjusting each curve
  • Curves filter:
  • All channels of the Curves filter display a histogram now
  • Bug Fix: The Curves filter does not remove the preview image after two curve adjustments anymore, which happened in newer versions of Photoshop Elements.
  • Bug Fix: The Preview feature for the Curves filter does not break anymore if curve values are out of range.
  • Bug Fix: Sometimes strange histograms were displayed for non-RGB curves on the Curves dialog.
  • Panels:
  • New resizable HistogramsXXL panel with 16 histogram in 7 different styles
  • New resizable Scopes panel with 23 3D-histograms in 2 styles
  • Improved Adjustements panel:
  • 17 icons for applying adjustment layers
  • (2 new panel menu items for deactivating layer masks and applying a clipping mask)
  • Bug Fix: The ElementsXXL adjustment layers are correctly displayed on the panel menu of the Adjustments panel.
  • Brush Panel:
  • A progress window is displayed before opening the Brush panel in case it should take longer to open.
  • Layers:
  • Copying and pasting of one or more layers (even between documents) is now possible with the Copy and Paste menu items or their key shortcuts. Requirement: No existing selection, layers need to exist when pasting. (2)
  • New Layer > Smart Object > Rasterize menu item for converting a smart object into an image layer (1)
  • New Layer > Rasterize > All Layer Styles / All Vector Masks / All Masks / All Smart Objects menu items for rasterizing theses items on all layers of the current document.
  • Other features:
  • Replace Background assistent for creating great compositions in eight steps and masking fine hair.
  • The Interpolation option in the ElementsXXL Preferences now works for Photoshop Elements 13 and higher (unless you activate the Content-Aware option). There is also a new "Nearest Neighbor" interpolation option.
  • New "Always open JPEGs/TIFFs in Camera Raw" options in the ElementsXXL Preferences
  • The "Render 16-bit document" feature now supports rendering the filter mask for the bottom smart object.
  • Improvements:
  • Better looking OK and Cancel icons with 200% UI scaling for the Warp, Perspective Warp and Perspective Crop tools.
  • The Photoshop Elements skin was improved visually, e.g. larger combo boxes, more decent disabled look
  • Improved plugin scanning to avoid that a smart filter is not displayed
  • Installation:
  • Plugin Installer: Support for the Microsoft Store version of Photoshop Elements 15

New in ElementsXXL 5.05 (Oct 4, 2018)

  • When double clicking a Camera Raw smart object, the layer mask, vector mask and filter mask are now preserved after editing with Camera Raw.
  • ElementsXXL stops redrawing its icons during batch processing with ActionsXXL (version 1.08 or higher) to avoid a potential crash problem.
  • New "Deactivate Crop Presets" option on the ElementsXXL Preferences dialog
  • New "Use ElementsXXL's Color Range" option on the ElementsXXL Preferences dialog
  • Bug Fix: When double clicking a Camera Raw smart object, the image placement inside the smart objects is not changed after editing with Camera Raw anymore.
  • Bug Fix: When choosing a smart filter from the Filter menu sometimes the wrong smart filter was executed. This occured because some installed automation plugins were not recognized correctly, which was fixed now.
  • Bug Fix: PSE 13-2018: The ElementsXXL Recovery feature is now used again, because the one of Photoshop Elements did not prove to be reliable enough.
  • Bug Fix: PSE 15/2018: The "Select From > Layer" menu item is not displayed at the bottom of the sub menu anymore.
  • Installation:
  • Plugin Installer works again under Windows XP
  • Support for HiDPI screens under Windows
  • Support for Windows 10 ARM64 systems

New in ElementsXXL 1.01 (May 28, 2013)

  • 9 new key shortcuts: Shift + Q for starting/ending Quick Mask Mode and Ctrl + (Alt) + 4-7 for activating or creating a selection from the RGB, red, green and blue channels.
  • New Luminosity menu item on the Select > Selection From menu for creating a selection from the luminosity of the image.
  • The key shortcuts are localized and displayed directly on the menu in Photoshop Elements 4 and higher.
  • Double clicking the Quick Mask icon starts Quick Mask Mode and displays the Quick Mask options in Photoshop Elements 11.
  • You only need to click once on the smart filter symbol to display the Edit Smart Filters dialog. Previously and only double clicking worked and clicking once sometimes displayed an error message.
  • The right font size is now used in PSE 11 under Windows XP for the menu and button text.
  • The Scripts and Actions button were moved a bit more to the right in order to leave more room to the control bar option at low screen resolution.
  • Bug Fix: Crash on exit does not occur anymore under Vista 32-bit.
  • Bug Fix: Repeatedly using menu accelerators (e.g. Alt+F+A) froze or crashed Photoshop Elements. The menu accelerator are disabled now to avoid that. They will be reactivated in a future update.
  • Bug Fix: Previously it was sometimes not possible to apply smart filters when a 16-bit image was opened right after running Photoshop Elements.
  • Bug Fix: The Channel Mixer adjustment layer does not start up with a black image anymore.
  • Bug Fix: The Ctrl + M shortcut for the Curves filter now also works in Photoshop Elements 5 to 10.
  • Bug Fix: The Lighting Effects and Lens Flare filters are not disabled anymore when another smart filter is already applied.
  • Bug Fix: Improved language detection for multilingual installations of Photoshop Elements

New in ElementsXXL 1.0c (May 28, 2013)

  • Bug Fix: Under certain conditions ElementsXXL was not activated when Photoshop Elements 1-5 & 8-10 started up.
  • Bug Fix: No more crash or error message after exiting Photoshop Elements 11 under Windows XP and 8.
  • Bug Fix: It is not possible anymore to display multiple ElementsXXL dialogs on top of each other. This avoids potential problems.
  • Bug Fix: It is not possible anymore to use the Layers panel while an ElementsXXL dialog is displayed in Photoshop Elements 8-11. This avoids potential problems.

New in ElementsXXL 1.0 (May 28, 2013)

  • First Release