This tutorial shows how to install the most recent Shotwell photo manager and viewer, so far version 0.32.10, in Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.10.
Shotwell is a free open-source photo manager designed for the GNOME Desktop. It’s pre-installed and default in Ubuntu Desktop, when you installed the system with default or full installation mode.
The photo manager features import photos from disk or camera, organize by time-based events, tags (keywords), folders, and more. It supports basic image editing, such as crop, rotate, color adjust, straighten, and enhance photos.
As well, it supports video and RAW photos, create wallpaper slideshow, and share your photos to major web services, including Flickr, Tumblr and YouTube.
Shotwell photo manager released version 0.32.5, then 0.32.6 with quick fixes, few days ago.
The release has better HiDPI displays support, with new .svg app icon that looks way better (perfectly sharp).
The release also fixed that the viewer application always opens in maximized window size, as well as missing viewer app icon in dock, app switcher, and overview screen.
OAUTH authentication now is moved to external browser, so webkit2gtk-4.1 is no longer required as a dependency for building the binary package.
Other changes include remove “Import from Application” menu item, and translation updates.
Shotwell photo viewer and organizer released new version 0.32.4 a few days ago.
The new release added basic .mpo file support, which is a stereoscopic image consisting of two overlapping 2D images in JPG format.
Besides that, the release also has improved slideshow support. It now supports for shuffled slideshows, allow setting wallpaper slideshows even if videos are selected, though videos are automatically excluded in slideshow in my case. And, fixes left/right navigation and not start issue in slideshow, when video is the first selected item.
Remove app shortcut for “Shotwell Profile Browser”. Add it as an action instead, though also available in ‘Preference’.
Simplified export conflict resolution dialog
New video meta-data handler.
Add dump of available image codecs and meta-data support
Fix showing the original photo with shift if photo was modified externally
Fix crop area jumping on scaled displays
Some crash fixes.
How to Install Shotwell 0.32.4 in Ubuntu:
Shotwell is available to install as Flatpak package, which is however not updated to the latest release at the moment of writing.
For those who prefer the classic .deb package format, I’ve upload the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10 on amd64, arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.
1. First, search for and open terminal from your system application menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.
Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:
sudo apt install shotwell heif-gdk-pixbuf
NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.
Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!
Uninstall Shotwell 0.32.4
For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.
To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
The Shotwell photo manager and viewer got a new point release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04 and 23.04.
The new Shotwell 0.32.2 added .hif file format support. It’s a HEIF variant usually taken by Sony Mirrorless Cameras.
Other changes are mostly bug-fixes, they include:
Fix using wrong data folder when starting profile through browser
Fix sendto in flatpak environment
Fix meta-data being written in a loop
Fix detecting false mtime changes
Fix broken aspect ratio of thumbnail when using external editors
Fix critical when exporting file with no exposure date
Fix minor leak in Flickr and Google authenticators
Enable C&P of paths in profile editor
Translation updates
How to Install Shotwell 0.32.2 in Ubuntu:
Option 1: Flatpak package (Official)
Shotwell provides official package for Linux through universal Flatpak package. Ubuntu user can install the package by running the 2 commands below one by one.
Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Run command to make sure flatpak daemon is installed:
sudo apt install flatpak
Then, run command to install Shotwell as Flatpak package:
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.
Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:
sudo apt install shotwell heif-gdk-pixbuf
NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.
Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!
Uninstall Shotwell 0.32.2
For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.
To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
While the default Shotwell photo organizer is old in Ubuntu 20.04, here’s how to install the latest stable 0.30.10 via PPA repository.
Changes from the pre-installed Shotwell 0.30.8 to Shotwell 0.30.10 include:
Modify web publishing authentication to comply with Google’s requirements
Fix YouTube OAuth scope
New and updated translations.
For those who want to upgrade to the latest stable Shotwell 0.30.10, the unofficial PPA has made the package for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from ‘Show Applications’ menu. When terminal opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sicklylife/shotwell
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2.) Then either upgrade Shotwell via Software Updater (Update Manager).
Or run command to install the new photo organizer package:
sudo apt install shotwell
(Optional) For any issue, you can purge the PPA to revert back the stock Shotwell 0.30.8 by running command:
Shotwell 0.30.8 was released today as the latest stable version. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.
Shotwell 0.30.8 comes with updated translations and some bug-fixes, including:
Fix keyboard shortcut for adding tags
Fix Tumblr publishing issue
Fix month name translation in date/time chooser
How to install Shotwell 0.30.8 in Ubuntu:
If you’re OK with the flatpak package, which runs in sandbox, Shotwell 0.30.8 flatpak is available HERE.
Also Shotwell stable PPA maintains native .deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, and v0.30.8 will be available in a few days (You may check the PPA link before getting started).
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yg-jensge/shotwell
2. To upgrade Shotwell from a previous, launch Software Updater and install available updates.
NOTE: To undo the installation, and downgrade shotwell to the stock version in your Ubuntu repository, run command to purge the PPA:
Shotwell, an open-source Gnome photo manager, has reached the 0.25 release with various improvements, bug-fixes, and translation updates. Here’s how to install or upgrade it in Ubuntu 16.04 and / or Ubuntu 16.10.
As a frequent updated software, Shotwell 0.25.0 is a ‘big’ release with following changes:
Add contrast to improvements
Add a log when shifting events
Add a debug output of the current timezone
Fix compilation with recent Vala compiler
Fix focus handling of full-screen viewer
Remove obsolete CSS style property
Support ACDSEE tags
Use unicode characters
Remove deprecated calls
Silence two C warnings that are usually caused by valac
Refactor web authenticator
Spelling fixes
Piwigo: Add option to override SSL certificate handling
Piwigo: Add option to show the SSL certificate
Remove an old GTK+ work-around
Remove deprecated GSettings calls
Persist export dialog settings
Remove deprecated elements from export dialog
Port web plugins to new libsoup API
Fix libraw binding
Piwigo: Fix new album creation
Blacklist vaapi decoder to prevent crashes in video meta data extraction
Hide “Folder” side-bar when empty
Enable SQL debugging through environment variable
How to install Shotwell 0.25 in Ubuntu:
The official Shotwell binaries for Ubuntu are maintained in the PPA repository. However, it seems to be an auto-build PPA and the 0.25.0 builds are broken due to the updated dependencies.
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yg-jensge/shotwell
2. To upgrade Shotwell from a previous, launch Software Updater and install available updates.
NOTE: To undo the installation, and downgrade shotwell to the stock version in your Ubuntu repository, run command to purge the PPA:
The Gnome photo management software, Shotwell 0.23.5, was released a few days ago with user experience improvements, bug fixes, and translation updates.
Shotwell 0.23.5 adds an option under View menu allows users to hide the bottom toolbar. Tags below the thumbnails now behave like hyperlinks, so that clicking it brings you to the page with all other photos with that tag.
Other changes in the 0.23.5 release:
Remove obsolete files
Plugins: Load icons and GtkBuilder files from GResource
Fix .desktop file generation
Use Gtk.MessageDialog’s printf-style API for strings
Add SQL indexes to PhotoTable
Add Language headers to po files
Update INSTALL file
Really remove reference to external hmac_sha1
Disambiguate strings for time ranges
Implement linked tags
Make it more clear that something failed if SSL conncetion was not possible
Add option to filter by saved search
Explicitly link plugins to their dependencies
Fix typo in GSettings schema
Re-add –disable-extra-plugins configure option
Fix settings migrator and thumbnailer path
Bump debian compat for proper –libexecdir parameter
How to install Shotwell 0.23.5 in Ubuntu 16.04:
For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and derivatives, you can install or upgrade to Shotwell 0.23.5 using Jens Georg’s PPA.
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yg-jensge/shotwell
2. Then updated package index and upgrade shotwell:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install shotwell
3. To restore the stock Shotwell 0.22 version, run command to purge the PPA:
Shotwell photo manager has recently reached the 0.23.1 release. While Ubuntu 16.04 contains the old 0.22 release, you can now install the latest release and receive future updates through the maintainer, Jens Georg’s PPA.
Notable changes in Shotwell 0.23.1:
Update Facebook application id so Facebook integration works again
Rename “Yorba website” to “Shotwell website” in About dialog
How to Install / Upgrade Shotwell in Ubuntu 16.04:
1. Add the maintainer’s PPA.
Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), paste the command below and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yg-jensge/shotwell
Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.
2. Launch Software Updater and upgrade Shotwell.
Launch Software Updater, after checking for updates, you’ll see the new release of “Digital photo manager” available for upgrade under Other updates -> Ubuntu Base.
3. (Optional) To revert back to the stock version of Shotwell in Ubuntu 16.04, run command in terminal to install ppa-purge and purge the PPA which also downgrade the photo manager:
Gnome 3 photo manager shotwell 0.19.0, an unstable pre-release of the upcoming version 0.20, has been released with support for Rajce.net and Gallery 3 photo services.
Shotwell is a popular photo manager for Gnome 3 with below great features:
Import from disk or camera
Organize by time-based Events, Tags (keywords), Folders, and more
View your photos in full-window or fullscreen mode
Crop, rotate, color adjust, straighten, and enhance photos
Slideshow
Video and RAW photo support
Share to major Web services, including Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube
The latest 0.19.0 has been released as a pre-release of the upcoming version 0.20 with below changes:
Support for Rajce.net and Gallery 3 photo services added
Set background image for lock screen
Better detection of corrupt images during import
Various bug fixes
Updated translations
The .deb installer is available in Yorba’s daily build PPA for Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 14.10. Check your OS type: 32-bit = i386 or 64-bit = amd64, and download & install the appropriate package from the link below:
The .deb package can be installed by double-click on it to open with Ubuntu Software Center and click the install button.
