Troubleshooting

Quick answers to common problems. If yours is not here, please tell us on the issue tracker.

A photo does not open

PixelFx reads JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL and camera RAW files.

• If you open a file PixelFx does not read, a short message says so: "PixelFx does not open ...".
• If a file is damaged or cannot be read, the photo area says "Could not open ..." with the reason.
• If a RAW file cannot be developed, PixelFx may offer Open its preview instead. This opens the JPEG the camera stored inside the RAW.

To see exactly which formats your copy of PixelFx reads, open About PixelFx from the main menu and look at Diagnostics.

Preset and look files (.pfxpreset, .pfxlook, .xmp, .cube) are not photos. When you drop them onto the window, PixelFx imports them instead. See Presets and Looks.

My RAW looks different from the camera's JPEG

When you open a RAW file, PixelFx first shows the JPEG your camera stored inside it, so you see the photo at once. Meanwhile it develops the RAW itself ("Developing RAW"), and then shows that instead. This is why the picture can change a moment after it opens.

A RAW opens with the Camera profile (in Color, under Profile), which aims to look like your camera showed it. It can still look a little different from the camera's own JPEG. Try the other profiles, or adjust it to taste. See Editing controls.

PixelFx cannot see a folder or a drive

Snap. The snap can open photos in your home folder. For memory cards, USB sticks and external drives, it needs the removable media permission. Run this once in a terminal:

sudo snap connect pixelfx:removable-media

Then start PixelFx again.

Flatpak. Choose your photos or folders with Open images or Open folder, or drag them onto the window. PixelFx can then open what you picked.

My edits seem lost after moving files

They should not be. PixelFx finds each photo's edits by a fingerprint of the file, not by its name or folder, so a renamed or moved photo keeps its edits. Check these:

• Remember edits must be on in Settings (it is on at first).
• On open in Settings should be Show the photo as it was left. With Always start from the original, photos open without your edits.
• If another app changed the file (for example it rotated it or wrote new information into it), PixelFx sees it as a new photo.
• If you started PixelFx with a different --profile, it uses that profile's own edits.

See Files and folders for where the edits are kept.

PixelFx says edits cannot be remembered

This means PixelFx cannot write to its data folder. Your edits work, but they are not kept for next time. Export your photo to keep the result, then check that you have space on your disk and that the data folder can be written. The folder is listed in Files and folders.

A second launch opens the photo in the window I already have

That is on purpose. PixelFx runs one window. When you open a photo from your file manager, or start PixelFx again, the photo opens in the PixelFx window that is already running, and that window comes to the front.

If you want a second, separate PixelFx, start it with another profile, for example pixelfx --profile test. See Files and folders.

PixelFx crashed

Sorry about that. The next time you start PixelFx, a notice says PixelFx closed unexpectedly, and which photo you were working on. If Remember edits is on, your edits up to the last change are kept.

Choose Report the problem to help us find the cause, or Not now.

You can also send a report at any time: choose Report a bug in the main menu, or the Report a bug button in About PixelFx. The report sheet works like this:

1. Write What happened: what you did, what you expected, and what happened instead.
2. Under Attached, PixelFx adds what it was doing when it closed (after a crash), Diagnostics (versions, your system and the formats it reads, nothing personal) and the last 200 lines of the log. File and folder names in the log are replaced by their kind, such as "a .jpg file". Choose Show to see each one, and untick any you do not want to send.
3. Choose Open the issue tracker. A new issue opens in your browser, filled in, for you to read and send. PixelFx sends nothing itself.

If the browser does not open, choose Copy report, then paste it into a new issue at https://github.com/keshavbhatt/PixelFx/issues.

The Diagnostics page in About PixelFx also has Copy, to copy the diagnostics for a report, and Open the log folder, to see the log file.

How do I reset PixelFx's settings?

Close PixelFx, then delete its settings file, pixelfx.conf. Where it is depends on how you installed PixelFx:

How you installed	Settings file
Snap	~/snap/pixelfx/current/.config/ktechpit/pixelfx.conf
Flatpak	~/.var/app/com.ktechpit.pixelfx/config/ktechpit/pixelfx.conf
Built from source or another way	~/.config/ktechpit/pixelfx.conf

Next time PixelFx starts with its usual settings. Your presets, looks and remembered edits are kept, because they live in the data folder. Your recent files and favourites are in the settings file, so they are reset too.

To try a fresh start without deleting anything, start PixelFx with a new profile instead, for example pixelfx --profile fresh. See Files and folders.

Still stuck?

Ask on the issue tracker. The Keyboard shortcuts page and the Getting started guide may also help.