Photoscape 3.7 for Windows

Photoscape 3.7 is a free photo editing program for Windows from Photoscape.org that bundles a viewer, an editor, batch processing, collages and a GIF maker in one window. You can download Photoscape from the official site if you want simple, friendly tools for everyday photos without a steep learning curve.

Overview

Photoscape appeared on 28 May 2008 and gained a large following among home users who found Photoshop too complex and Paint too limited. Its start screen is a ring of large icons, each opening a separate tool. The Viewer browses folders of photos. The Editor handles the usual jobs: cropping, resizing, brightness and colour, backlight correction, red-eye removal, sharpening, frames, text balloons and a set of filters. Batch Editor applies the same changes to many photos at once, which is handy for resizing a holiday album or adding a watermark. Page and Combine put several pictures on one sheet, for collages or print layouts, and Animated GIF builds a simple animation from a series of images. There are also a raw converter, a screen capture tool, a colour picker and a tool for splitting one photo into several pieces. Version 3.7, released on 11 September 2014, is the last release of this classic edition; the program is dated, but it still does its job for basic editing on Windows.

How to install

1. Open the official download page and get the installer.
2. Run setup and read each screen; decline optional offers if shown.
3. Start Photoscape and choose a tool from the main ring.
4. Use Batch Editor for many photos at once and save to a separate folder to keep originals.

The version history lists changes in each release.

Requirements

Photoscape runs on Windows and needs very little: the installer is about 20.05 MB according to catalogue data, and the program works well on older PCs.

Who it suits

Photoscape is a good fit for people who edit family photos, prepare pictures for a blog or a small shop, or print collages for school projects. Users who need layers, masks, colour management or regular updates should look at more modern editors, but for light work on an older PC it remains practical.

Safety

Download from photoscape.org only. Because the classic edition is no longer updated, avoid opening images from untrusted sources with it and keep your system and antivirus up to date.

Price

Photoscape is freeware for personal use.

Pros and cons

• Pro: many tools in one free program.
• Pro: easy for beginners.
• Pro: batch editing and collages.
• Con: no updates for years.
• Con: dated interface.
• Con: no layers or advanced retouching.

Alternatives

For advanced editing with layers, GIMP is free on our site. Paint and Microsoft Designer cover quick edits and templates, Resize Image handles batch resizing, and Adobe Lightroom Classic suits large photo libraries.