Image Editor
Free app for editing images and photos.
Free app for editing images and photos.
Last updated: 2026-08-22
This guide covers the main Image Editor workflow. The app keeps the protected donor framework's familiar menus and file lifecycle while Pintura owns the image canvas and editing tools.
Choose Open Image From Computer on the start page or File > Open from Computer. You can also drop an image onto the app or paste an image from the clipboard. The shell validates the file before Pintura is loaded.
JPEG, PNG, and WebP open directly. BMP, GIF, HEIC, TIFF, and SVG are normalized as described in the format FAQ. A conversion notice explains any animation, pages, vector data, metadata, or container features that will not survive export.
Choose Open From Google Drive, sign in with the account that owns or can access the file, and select it with Google Picker. Image Editor holds the short-lived token in memory and asks only for files selected or created through the app. Drive launches, shared-drive items, and resource keys use the same open pipeline.
Choose Create New Image or visit /new. The dialog starts with a transparent 1600 by 1200 pixel PNG. Pick a preset, swap orientation, or enter custom dimensions and a transparent or solid background. Confirming creates the canvas and opens it in the persistent editor.
Use Pintura's crop, filter, fine-tune, annotate, decorate, fill, frame, redact, and resize controls. The editor remains mounted as the browser resizes or the app switches between System, Light, and Dark themes, so those shell changes do not discard your work.
Use the toolbar, Edit menu, or keyboard shortcuts. Revert returns to the current document's home baseline. A successful save updates the durable checkpoint without remounting the editor or erasing its live history.
View > Full Screen provides a focused editing layout. The phone layout keeps 44-pixel touch targets and may collapse the ad space while the editor is active. Menu flyouts stay inside the visible viewport.
Choose File > Save to update a writable PNG, JPEG, or WebP home. Converted or unsupported sources route to Save As. Save As adopts the new destination only after a confirmed write. Save a Copy or Download creates another file without changing the home or declaring newer edits saved.
If the local file or Drive revision changed after it was opened, Image Editor pauses and offers conflict choices. Review the message before overwriting. Choosing the other version replaces the current document only after you confirm what will happen to unsaved edits.
Check that downloads are permitted for imageeditor.app, that your device has free space, and that a security extension did not block the generated Blob URL. Save a Copy does not mark the document clean, even when the download succeeds.
When browser storage is healthy, Image Editor stores the source assets once and checkpoints canonical editor state after a short idle period. The save-status area distinguishes a recovery update from a durable file save. Manage Drafts lists abandoned recoveries and lets you remove them deliberately.
If storage is unavailable, full, or cleared, the app reports degraded recovery rather than pretending the draft is safe. Keep important work in a durable local or Drive file.
Image pixels are processed locally in your browser. Drive operations travel between your browser and Google using Google's APIs. See the Privacy Policy for storage, analytics, advertising, and permission details.
Reload once, then check the browser's network panel. Pintura CSS must load before its script and both must return JavaScript/CSS MIME types from the same app base. At local development the exact supported URL is http://localhost/imageeditor/.
Check the stable error code and file size. HEIC import can be disabled by an emergency runtime switch. TIFF remains independent. Malformed, oversized, BigTIFF, RAW, and DNG inputs are rejected. Decoder workers are terminated after 60 seconds, on close, on a new open, or when superseded.
BMP, GIF, HEIC, TIFF, and SVG sources must first use Save As because their source structure cannot be reproduced. After a successful Save As to PNG, JPEG, or WebP, later Save operations can overwrite that new home when permission is available.