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.
Core and External 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 http://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 ‣ Manage andinstall plugins....
Installed external python plugins are placed under ~/.qgis2/python/pluginsfolder. Home directory (denoted by above ~) on Windows is usually somethinglike C:\Documents and Settings\(user) (on Windows XP or earlier)or C:\Users\(user). On some platforms (e.g., macOS), the .qgis2folder is hidden by default.
Paths to Custom C++ plugins libraries can also be added underSettings ‣ Options ‣ System.
Note
According to the plugin manager settings, QGIS maininterface can display a blue link in the status bar to inform you that thereare updates for your installed plugins or new plugins available.
The Plugins Dialog¶
The menus 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 menu (except 
Settings).
The All tab¶
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.
The All tab
The Installed tab¶
In 
Installed tab,you can find only the installed plugins. The external pluginscan be uninstalled and reinstalled using the [Uninstall plugin] and[Reinstall plugin] buttons. You can [Upgrade all] here as well.
The Installed tab
The Not installed tab¶
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 Not installed tab
The Upgradeable and New tabs¶
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 the Settings menu, those also appear in the listgiving you opportunity to early test upcoming tools.
Installation can be done with the [Install plugin], [Upgrade plugin] or[Upgrade all] buttons.
The Upgradeable tab
The Invalid tab¶
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 Invalid tab
The Settings tab¶
In the Settings tab, you can use the followingoptions:
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.
To add external author repositories, click [Add...] in the Pluginrepositories section.If you do not want one or more of the added repositories, they can be disabledvia the [Edit...] button, or completely removed with the [Delete] button.
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.
The Settings tab
