How to add External Editors to Capture One 22

Capture One 22 doesn’t allow use of the Adobe-style plug-ins, but you can still use the executable-style forms of these editors. It’s pretty tricky to make them available inside Capture One, however. These same procedures I describe below will work for programs like the original Nik plug-ins and Topaz De-Noise AI.

External editors are accessed by clicking the right mouse button in the photo to be edited while inside Capture One. The problem, though, is that these editors aren’t available as an option. How do you make these programs visible to Capture One? I’m going to show you how to do this from Windows.

I’m going to demonstrate how to add an external editor by using the Viveza2 program as an example. Viveza2 comes in two formats, namely a plug-in (Viveza2.8bf) or as a stand-alone executable (Viveza2.exe). Capture One 22 can only use the .exe form.

I have chosen to use the 64-bit versions of the external editors, as shown in the example below.

Where is Viveza2?

Inside Capture One, you would normally click the right mouse button, and select “Edit With” to pick the Viveza2 program. The only problem is that it’s not there! How do you configure Capture One to make Viveza 2 visible, so that you can select it?

It’s true that you can select “Browse” to hunt for your external editor, but the very next time you want that editor, you’ll be forced to go hunting for it again. Very irritating. There’s a better way.

Select a photo in Windows Explorer

To begin, you’ll need to exit Capture One.

Open up Windows Explorer.

Navigate to a typical photo, such as a jpeg, tiff, png, dng, etc.

Right-mouse click on the photo.

Select “Open With”

Click on “Choose another app”

Scroll to the bottom of the dialog

Click on “Choose an app on your PC”

Locate the editor (Viveza2.exe)

Browse to the desired external editor, such as the example Viveza2.exe, which on this computer is located in the folder “C:\Program Files\Google\Nik Collection\Viveza 2\Viveza 2 (64-bit)\”.

Click on the file name, and then click “Open”.

Click “Always” after selecting the executable file

Note that “Viveza 2” is now selected in the list above.

Click the “Always” button.

It doesn’t matter that the example photo is a “Tiff” format. It could have also been a jpeg, dng, or another format.

The program will start up, but you can choose to Cancel, since you don’t want to start editing yet. The program (Viveza 2) will close.

Now, start up Capture One 22 again.

Select a photo to edit. It doesn’t matter if it’s .NEF, .DNG, .TIFF or something else.

Click inside the photo, while either in the Library or Adjust section.

Now Viveza2 is available!

Select the “Edit With” option

You can now see that the example “Viveza2” is available!

Just click on “Viveza2” in the list.

Select suitable file format for Viveza2

Select a file format that your editor can use in the dialog that appears. Viveza 2 cannot edit raw format files, for instance. I chose “tiff” format in the example above, since Viveza 2 knows how to edit that file format. Capture One 22 will convert the photo, if needed, into the selected file format before sending it to the external editor (Viveza 2).

Inside the Viveza 2 editor

Now, you can edit your photo in the external editor (Viveza 2).

When edits are finished, click on the “Save” button.

You will be returned to the Capture One 22 editor, and Viveza 2 will automatically close.

Note that Capture One will have the edited photo in the filmstrip, in your selected file format, which you can then edit further or else export it.

You’ll need to repeat this exercise for every external program you want to use. I have configured my favorite external editors such as Silver Efex Pro 2, HDR Efex Pro 2, and Topaz Denoise AI using this same procedure. Now, I can easily run these programs from inside Capture One 22 without having to hunt for them any more.

I need to add a word of caution about HDR Efex Pro 2. This program doesn’t seem to want to place its output in the same directory as the original photos. If you don’t want it to put stuff into your Documents folder, then you need to save the results by selecting File | Save Image As… After you’re done saving, then do a File | Quit. You’ll have to manually import it back into Capture One 22 if you want to do more editing on it. Messy.