Install Ink/Stitch on Windows

Video Guide

We also provide beginner tutorial videos on our YouTube channel. Watch the installation process for Windows.

Requirements

That’s it! All python libraries and external dependencies are bundled (using the excellent pyinstaller), so you shouldn’t need to set anything else up.

Installation

Download

Download the release archive in your prefered language:

Latest release: 2021-05-03 Ink/Stitch v2.0.0

The LOCALE selected affects the menus shown inside Inkscape. Ink/Stitch dialogs are in the lanugage of your OS (if that language is supported).

Your language is not available? Help us to translate the dialogs into your native language.

Extract Files

Go to Edit > Preferences > System and check where your User Extensions folder is.

Preferences: Extensions Folder

Your folder will most likely look like this C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\inkscape\extensions

Extract the Ink/Stitch archive into this folder.

Run Ink/Stitch

Restart Inkscape.

You will then find Ink/Stitch under Extensions > Ink/Stitch.

Upgrade

Delete the old extension files first. Go to the extension directory and remove each inkstitch* file and folder.

Then, proceed as above.

Tip: Subscribe to a news feed channel to keep track on Ink/Stitch Updates:
GitHub Feed on new Releases
Ink/Stitch News

Or watch the project on GitHub:

Troubleshoot

Ink/Stitch doesn’t show up / is greyed out

Confirm installation path

Check if you extracted Ink/Stitch into the correct folder. If the User extensions folder doesn’t work out correctly, you can also try to install into the Inkscape extensions folder. You can also look it up under Edit > Preferences > System.

Antivirus Software

Since Ink/Stitch is packed into a executable there are reports of anti-virus-software using heuristics that mark the extension as a false positive. The solution in this cases is to add the Ink/Stitch extension folder to the exception list on the av program and reinstall the extension and try again.

If your antivirus software deleted files, you will receive an error message like this:

Tried to launch: inkstitch\bin\inkstitch
  Arguments: ['inkstitch\bin\inkstitch', '--id=XXX', '--extension=XXX', 'C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Temp\ink_ext_XXXXXX.svgXXXXX']
  Debugging information:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "inkstitch.py", line 35, in <module>
    extension = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
  File "C:\Program Files\Inkscape\lib\python2.7/subprocess.py", line 325, in __init__ errread, errwrite)
  File "C:\Program Files\Inkscape\lib\python2.7/subprocess.py", line 575, in _execute_child startupinfo)
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified

Confirm Ink/Stitch Version

Verify if you have downloaded Ink/Stitch for Windows (Download)

I installed Ink/Stitch in my native language, but the dialogue windows are displayed in English

Incomplete Translation

It is possible, that not all strings have been translated. This is indicated by some strings of text beeing in English and others in your native language. If you like to complete the translation, have a look at our description for translators.

Language Settings

We have to distinguish between the Extension menu in Inkscape and the dialogue windows. The selection of the ZIP file causes only the Extension menu to be in a certain language. The dialgoue windows are build differently. They will use the language of your operating system. If Ink/Stitch is uncertain, which language to support, it will fallback on English. You can tell Inkscape explicitly to use your native language as follows:

  • Go to Edit > Preferences > Interface (Ctrl + Shift + P)
  • Set your language
  • Restart Inkscape

Preferences > Interface