I bet you happened to download a lot of images and then choose only a couple to use in your graphic design. Am I right?
This is because when you use InDesign, Photoshop or Illustrator, and you need to add an image, you always have to go to open a browser and evaluate each image outside the context in which you want to insert it, then you have to download it, try it, find another one, download it, try it, and so on...
In short: it is a bummer.
It is something that takes away time and concentration from the project.
For this reason, we created a free plugin called StockSolo designed specifically to solve this problem.
StockSolo is a FREE plugin that allows you to use free Unsplash stock photos directly within InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Xd.
Overview
- What are Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay
- How StockSolo works
- StockSolo for InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop?
- Where do you find StockSolo for Adobe XD?
- StockSolo is a free and beta project
What are Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay
Unsplash.com, Pexels.com, and Pixabay.com are three libraries that contain more than 3.5 million photo stocks of the highest quality.
All these images are free and you can use them freely for both personal and commercial projects!
How StockSolo works
StockSolo adds a panel within InDesign (and also Photoshop and Illustrator) that allows you to search for an image without having to leave the document you are working on.
I'll leave you a video below to show you how the plugin works in our favorite Adobe suite program: InDesign.
Where do you find StockSolo for InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop?
StockSolo is currently in private beta and we are collecting the emails of those interested in downloading it when it is ready to be released on StockSolo.com.
However, you can already download the plugin (in beta) directly from the Adobe Exchange:
- Close all Adobe applications you have opened.
- Click here to open the StockSolo page on the Adobe Exchange.
- Click on the FREE button at the top right of the page.
- The Creative Cloud Desktop application (which Adobe automatically installs when you install the programs) should install StockSolo automatically in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. If this doesn't happen, try waiting 10/15 minutes and restarting your computer.
What to do if you have problems with the installation
If you can't install StockSolo as I explained above, don't despair, you can install it with a slightly more "manual" procedure.
- Download the Anastasiy's Extension Manager program that you find at this link and install it.
- Now download StockSolo from this link
- Double click on the StockSolo.zxp you just downloaded - Anastasiy's Extension Manager should open automatically and install StockSolo in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
How to open the StockSolo panel
Once the installation is complete:
- Open InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop.
- In the upper bar click on Window > Extensions and click on StockSolo.
Where do you find StockSolo for Adobe XD?
Download StockSolo for Adobe XD from here.
Alternatively, you can find the plugin by launching Adobe XD and clicking "Discover Plugins" from the Plugins menu. And then search for StockSolo.
StockSolo is a free and beta project
StockSolo is a project on which we created to learn new things and experiment. We still want to improve it and make it known to as many people as possible.
If you want to help us, I ask you a couple of things:
- If you like the plugin, go to this page and leave us a 5-star review.
- Send a link to this page to your friends and who you think might be interested in using StockSolo and share it on your social networks.
- Write your feedback and ideas on how we could improve StockSolo in the comments.
See you in the next article,
Stefano
