Add-ons¶

The Add-ons section lets you manage secondary scripts, called “Add-ons” that extends Blender’s functionality. Most of the time you can get add-ons as part of the Extensions system.

In this section you can search, install, enable and disable Add-ons.

Tip

If the Add-on does not activate when enabled, check the Console window for any errors that may have occurred.

Filtering Add-ons¶

Search Add-ons: Blender comes with some preinstalled Add-ons already, ready to be enabled. But you can also add your own, or any interesting ones you find on the web.

Enabled Add-ons Only: Shows only enabled add-ons for the current Category.
Add-on Tags: Add-ons are assigned categories by what areas of Blender they affect.

Add-on Settings¶

Refresh Local

Scan extension & legacy add-ons for changes to modules & meta-data (similar to restarting). Any issues are reported as warnings.

Install from Disk

Install an extension from a .zip package. This is installed to a Local Repository and no updates will be available.

This can also be used to install legacy Add-ons, for more information see: Installing Legacy Add-ons.

Enabling & Disabling Add-ons¶

To enable or disable an add-on check or uncheck the box to the right of the add-ons.

The add-on functionality should be immediately available.

Add-on Information¶

You can click the arrow at the left of the add-on box to see more information, such as its location, a description and a link to the documentation. Here you can also find a button to report a bug specific of this add-on.

Add-on Preferences¶

Some add-ons may have their own preferences which can be found in the Preferences section of the add-on information box.

Some add-ons use this section for example to enable/disable certain functions of the add-on. Sometimes these might even all default to off. So it is important to check if the enabled add-on has any particular preferences.

Installing Legacy Add-ons¶

To install legacy add-ons, click the Install from Disk menu item and select the add-on’s .py file (if it has only one such file) or its .zip file.

The add-on will not be automatically enabled after installation; click the checkbox to do that.

Refresh: Scans the Add-on Directory for new add-ons.

Tip

While this screen doesn’t allow installing a folder-based addon with loose .py files, you can still do so by adding it as a Script Directory:

Create an empty directory in a location of your choice (e.g. my_scripts).
Add a subdirectory under my_scripts called addons (it must have this name for Blender to recognize it).
Place your addon folder inside this addons folder.
Open the File Paths section of the Preferences.
Add a Script Directories entry pointing to your script folder (e.g. my_scripts).
Save the preferences and restart Blender for it to recognize the new add-on location.

The add-ons in this folder will automatically become available; all you need to do is enable them.