QGIS has been designed with a plugin architecture. This allows many newfeatures and functions to be easily added to the application. Some of thefeatures in QGIS are actually implemented as plugins.
QGIS plugins are implemented either as Core Plugins or External Plugins.
Core Plugins are maintained by the QGIS Development Teamand are automatically part of every QGIS distribution. They are written in oneof two languages: C++ or Python.
Most of External Plugins are currently written in Python. They are stored eitherin the ‘Official’ QGIS Repository at https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/ or inexternal repositories and are maintained by the individual authors. Detaileddocumentation about the usage, minimum QGIS version, home page, authors,andother important information are provided for the plugins in the Officialrepository. For other external repositories, documentation might be availablewith the external plugins themselves. External plugins documentation is notincluded in this manual.
To install or activate a plugin, go to Plugins menu and selectManage and install plugins….Installed external python plugins are placed under the python/pluginsfolder of the active user profile path.
Packages like qgis-grass (or qgis-plugin-grass), qgis-server can be skipped initially, or installed only when you need them. Below you find instructions to install per distribution. For most distro’s there are instructions to install QGIS stable and instructions to install a cutting edge QGIS.
Paths to Custom C++ plugins libraries can also be added underSettings ‣ Options ‣ System.
Note
According to the plugin manager settings, QGIS maininterface can display an icon on the right of the status bar to inform youthat there are updates for your installed plugins or new plugins available.
The tabs in the Plugins dialog allow the user to install, uninstall and upgradeplugins in different ways. Each plugin has some metadata displayed in the rightpanel:
information on whether the plugin is experimental
description
rating vote(s) (you can vote for your preferred plugin!)
tags
some useful links to the home page, tracker and code repository
author(s)
version available
At the top of the dialog, a Search function helps you find anyplugin using metadata information (author, name, description…). It isavailable in nearly every tab (except Settings).
The Settings tab is the main place you canconfigure which plugins can be displayed in your application.You can use the following options:
Check for updates on startup. Whenever a new plugin ora plugin update is available, QGIS will inform you ‘every time QGIS starts’,‘once a day’, ‘every 3 days’, ‘every week’, ‘every 2 weeks’ or ‘every month’.
Show also experimental plugins. QGIS will show youplugins in early stages of development, which are generally unsuitable forproduction use.
Show also deprecated plugins. Because they usefunctions that are no longer available in QGIS, these plugins are setdeprecated and generally unsuitable for production use. They appear amonginvalid plugins list.
By default, QGIS provides you with its official plugin repository with the URLhttps://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/plugins.xml?qgis=3.0 (in case of QGIS 3.0)in the Plugin repositories section. To add external author repositories,click Add… and fill in the Repository Details form with aname and the URL. The URL can be of http:// or file:// protocol type.
The default QGIS repository is an open repository and you don’t need anyauthentication to access it. You can however deploy your own plugin repositoryand require an authentication (basic authentication, PKI). You can get moreinformation on QGIS authentication support in Authentication chapter.
If you do not want one or more of the added repositories, they can be disabledfrom the Settings tab via the Edit… button, or completely removed withthe Delete button.
In the All tab,all the available plugins are listed, including both core and externalplugins. Use Upgrade All to look for new versions of the plugins.Furthermore, you can use Install Plugin if a plugin is listed but notinstalled, Uninstall Plugin as well as Reinstall Plugin if a pluginis installed. An installed plugin can be temporarily de/activated using thecheckbox.
In the Installed tab, you’ll find listed the Coreplugins, that you can not uninstall. You can extend this list with externalplugins that can be uninstalled and reinstalled any time, using theUninstall Plugin and Reinstall Plugin buttons.You can Upgrade All the plugins here as well.
The Not installed tab lists all plugins available thatare not installed.You can use the Install Plugin button to implement a plugin into QGIS.
The Upgradeable and New tabsare enabled when new plugins are added to the repository or a newversion of an installed plugin is released.If you activated Show also experimental plugins in theSettings menu, those also appear in the listgiving you opportunity to early test upcoming tools.
Installation can be done with the Install Plugin, UpgradePlugin or Upgrade All buttons.
The Invalid tab lists all installed plugins that arecurrently broken for any reason (missing dependency, errors while loading,incompatible functions with QGIS version…).You can try the Reinstall Plugin button to fix an invalidated plugin butmost of the times the fix will be elsewhere (install some libraries, look foranother compatible plugin or help to upgrade the broken one).
The Install from ZIP tab provides a fileselector widget to import plugins in a zipped format, e.g. plugins downloadeddirectly from their repository.