- Softonic Rating:
- Excellent:9/10
- License:
- Evaluation
- Added:
- October 14, 2003
- Updated:
- December 7, 2007
- Publisher:
- Website | More programs (6)
- File size:
- 326.1 MB
- Downloads:
- 12,391
- DownloadEvaluation
“Complete graphics editor for all levels of ability”
by Cyril Roger
So you’re back from vacation, you’ve downloaded all your photos to your PC, but you’re not convinced by the quality of the images. What you need is to retouch them, adjusting colour balance, eliminating red eyes, setting sharpness and removing noise. While it won’t equal a great picture at first try, at least it'll get you rid of all the imperfections. Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is a hands-on and complete photo editor that intermediate users will take to their liking.
We instantly fell in love with PSP’s easy-to-handle interface. Select the tool panels you need and drag and drop them into the main window. The best way to work with PSP is via the left hand panel, a descriptive menu of all the actions you can undertake, like printing, retouching, collage, or adding text and graphics. Clicking on one option will give you access to a sub-menu with more choices. You can always go back to the main menu by clicking on the house icon. If you have multiple images opened you’ll be able to access them in no time thanks to the tab-browsing feature. The only element that we didn’t like was the image browsing pane at the bottom of the interface, which we found to be pretty cluttered.
Corel is aware that the majority of users have nor the time or the experience to retouch their photos in depth. For these users, there are the “one step photo fix” and “one step noise removal” buttons, to edit your photos in one click. Paint Shop Pro offers numerous editing variations like Illumination, 3D, Texture and Edge effects. Just like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro works with layers, making it easy to have a history of all the changes you have made to your photo. Although PSP offers fewer effects and editing tools than Adobe’s stellar creation, we believe there are enough options to keep the photo enthusiast well occupied. We appreciated the extra features like photo collage, to create an original mash-up of your favourite pictures, or web share to upload your images to an online photo album. You can also easily create a custom card thanks to the text editor.
The only real drawback to Corel Paint Shop Pro is the lengthy installation process and having to create a Corel account to install the program. However once you get past that step, you’ll be happy to know that the application starts up fairly quickly and does not overuse memory. Beginners will find the help file to be very complete and simple to use.
Paint Shop Pro is an excellent photo editor offering the whole range of tools and effects that you would expect, and a bit more. A well structured interface and clear cut options make it a good choice for beginners.
Languages:
English
Recent changes in Paint Shop Pro:
- Express Lab - for fast editing
- Graphite Workspace Theme - looks great
- HDR Photo Merge
- Layer Styles
- Visible Watermarks
- Picture Tubes™ & Picture Frames
- Black & White Film Conversion
- Makeover Tools
- Crop to New Image
Limitations:
30 day Trial Period
OS requirements for Paint Shop Pro:
- OS: Win2000/XP/Vista
Minimum requirements:
- Processor: 300
- Memory: 256
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
- Free registration: Publisher's website
Recommended requirements:
- Processor: 1000
- Memory: 512
- Quick start-up
- Large range of tools and effects
- Quick “one step” photo editing
- Work in layers
- In depth help files
- Lengthy installation process
- Need a Corel account
- Cluttered file browser
Featured program
Softonic gives special recognition to software of exceptionally high quality. More information
From the publisher of Paint Shop Pro
New Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 is the ideal choice for any aspiring photographer's digital darkroom. It's filled with everything from easy automatic photo fixes to precision editing tools. It even includes a built-in Learning Center to help new users get started right away!
Posts about Paint Shop Pro in our blog
- Edit graphics like a pro by James Thornton
Sponsored Links
User opinions about Paint Shop Pro (1)
Programs similar to Paint Shop Pro
Paint Shop Pro options
Reviews for Paint Shop Pro in other languages
- Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo (Testbericht auf Deutsch)
- Paint Shop Pro (Le test en français)
- Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo (Recensione in italiano)
User Rating
58 ratings- Usability
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- Currently 9/10.
- Stability
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- Currently 9/10.
- Installation
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- Currently 9/10.
- Functionality
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- Currently 9/10.
- Appearance
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- Currently 9/10.





Lost interest a bit
I used to love using Paint Shop Pro and found it a very friendly program to use for creating web graphics or tinkering about with my photos. Now though I think it's a bit long in the tooth and ther... read more
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