Image Editor v26.5+

The image editor changes the images of the media library without a second application. It has nine tools: Crop, Resize, Transform, Adjust, Annotate, Redact, Frame, Remove BG and Upscale.

The editor is for the daily work on product and content images. For example, use it to:

• make a small supplier photo larger and sharper
• put a product on a white background
• correct a photo that is too dark, too yellow or too flat
• give all the photos of a category the same shape and the same look
• hide a name, an address or a face before you publish a photo

Open the image editor

1. Go to CMS > Media Library.
2. Select the folder of the image.
3. Click the image.
4. Click Edit Image.

You can also double-click the image.

Edit Image shows only for an image, and only in CMS > Media Library. The Insert Image dialog of the content editor does not open the editor: there, a double-click inserts the image.

The editor screen

The editor has four areas:

• The header shows the file name, Undo, Redo, the zoom controls and Save. The X at the left closes the editor.
• The tool bar at the left has one button for each tool. Click a tool to open it. Click it again to close it.
• The photo is in the middle. A checkered pattern shows the transparent areas.
• The options panel at the right shows the options of the open tool. The Adjust tool also shows its filters in a strip under the photo.

On a screen narrower than 1100 px, the options panel goes under the photo.

Zoom and move the photo

The zoom percentage is relative to the photo that fits the view. So 100% shows the full photo, not one screen pixel for each image pixel. Click the percentage, or the fit button next to +, to fit the photo in the view again.

Undo and redo

Undo goes back one step, and the editor keeps the last 30 steps. One drag of a slider is one step. An upscale and a background removal are also one step each, so Undo always returns the original image.

If you close the editor with changes that are not saved, the editor asks before it closes.

How the editor keeps your changes

The tools work in two different ways:

• Crop, Resize, Transform, Remove BG and Upscale change the pixels of the image at once.
• Adjust, Annotate, Redact and Frame stay separate from the image until you save. You can change or remove them at any time. Their result goes into the file when you click Save.

So the order of your work is free. For example, you can set the Adjust sliders first and crop later: the adjustments then apply to the cropped image. A crop moves the annotations and the redacted areas with the image, and a resize scales them with it.

Adjust

Adjust corrects the light and the colors of the photo, and applies a filter.

Correct a photo in one click

Click Auto. The editor reads the light and the colors of the photo, and sets the sliders:

• It changes Exposure only when the photo is too dark or too bright. A product on a white background keeps its white background.
• It sets Contrast, Shadows and Highlights from the range of the light in the photo.
• It corrects the white balance from the areas that are nearly gray. A product with a strong color does not change the correction. The correction is half of the full value, because a guess from the gray areas can be wrong.
• It adds a small amount of Vibrance and Sharpness.

Then move the sliders to fine-tune the result. Auto does not change the filter.

The sliders

Each slider starts at 0. Double-click a slider to set it back to 0. Reset sets all the sliders back to 0 and removes the filter.

Exposure and white balance work on the light values of the photo, as a camera does. So a warmer photo is not only more yellow: its whites become really warm, and its grays keep their brightness.

Filters

The filters are in the strip under the photo. Each filter shows a preview of the center of your photo. Click a filter to apply it. Click Original to remove it.

A filter adds its values to the sliders. The sliders show only your own values, so you can use a filter and the sliders together. For example, apply Golden hour and then set Exposure to +10.

Filter strength sets how much of the filter applies, from 0 to 100. A new filter always starts at 100.

Compare with the original

Drag across the photo while Adjust is open. A line follows the pointer. The original photo shows left of the line, and the adjusted photo shows right of it. Release the mouse button to see the full adjusted photo again.

The compare line shows only when the photo has an adjustment or a filter.

Upscale v26.11+

Upscale makes a photo 2 or 4 times larger with an AI model. The model draws new detail, so the result is much sharper than a resize. Use it for a small photo from a supplier, or for an old photo that is too small for a zoom on the product page. The model runs in your browser, so the photo stays on your computer.

1. Click Upscale in the tool bar.
2. Select a Scale: 2× or 4×. The line under it shows the size before and after.
3. Click Upscale.

The editor cuts the photo into tiles and upscales one tile after the other. The status shows the tile that the editor works on. To stop, click Cancel. The image then stays as it was.

The result replaces the image. Undo returns the original.

Upscale accepts an image of up to 1024 px on its longest side, so the result is at most 4096 px. For a larger image, the Upscale button is not available. Crop or resize the image first.

A transparent background stays transparent after the upscale.

The time of an upscale depends on the computer. As an example, one tile takes about 4 seconds on a computer with WebGPU, and about 14 seconds without it. A photo of 500 × 500 px has 9 tiles. See The AI tools for the first use.

Remove BG

Remove BG removes the background of a photo with an AI model. The product stays, and the background becomes transparent. The model runs in your browser, so the photo stays on your computer.

1. Click Remove BG in the tool bar.
2. Click Remove Background.
3. Wait until the status shows "Background removed".

To put the product on a new background:

1. In Fill, select Solid or Gradient.
2. For Solid, select the Color. For Gradient, select the From color, the To color and the Direction: Top to bottom, Left to right, Diagonal or Radial.
3. Click Apply Background.

To try another background, change the options and click Apply Background again. The new background replaces the previous one.

The model works on a copy of the photo of at most 1024 px. For a larger photo, the editor scales the result up to the full size. So the edge of the product can be less precise on a very large photo.

Crop

Crop cuts the image to the area that you select.

1. Click Crop in the tool bar. The crop area covers the full image.
2. Select a ratio: Free, 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 21:9, 2:3, 4:5 or 9:16. For another ratio, click Custom and type the width and the height of the ratio.
3. Drag the handles to change the area. Drag inside the area to move it. Drag outside the area to draw a new one.
4. Click Apply Crop, or press Enter.

A ratio button sets the crop area once, in the center of the image. A handle does not keep the ratio. To keep the ratio, move the area and do not drag the handles.

The grid in the crop area divides it into thirds. Put the product on a line or on a crossing of two lines for a balanced photo.

Resize

Resize changes the width and the height of the image in pixels.

1. Click Resize in the tool bar.
2. Type the Width or the Height. You can also drag the handles at the edges of the photo.
3. Click Apply, or press Enter.

The lock button between the two fields keeps the aspect ratio. It is on when the tool opens. Click it to set the width and the height freely.

The maximum size is 100 megapixels. To make a small photo larger, use Upscale and not Resize: a resize does not add detail, so a larger photo becomes blurred.

Transform

Transform rotates and flips the image.

Each button applies at once.

Annotate

Annotate adds shapes, text and other images on the photo. Use it for a "New" or "Sale" label, an arrow that shows a detail, or a logo.

The buttons at the top of the options panel select the shape:

The options under the shapes apply to the next annotation:

• Color: the color of the shape or of the text. The default color is red.
• Size: the thickness of the line, from 1 to 20. For text, the size of the letters, from 12 to 120.
• Font: the font of the text. The list shows the fonts that are on your computer.
• Opacity: from 5% to 100%.

To change an annotation:

1. Click it to select it.
2. Drag it to move it. Drag a handle to change its size.
3. Change the options. They apply to the selected annotation.
4. To change a text, double-click it.

To delete the selected annotation, click Delete or press the Delete key.

Redact

Redact hides a part of the photo, for example a name, an address, a phone number, a license plate or a face.

1. Click Redact in the tool bar.
2. Select the style: Solid Black or Pixelate.
3. Drag over the area to hide. Repeat for each area.

Clear All removes all the redacted areas. To remove only the last area, click Undo.

Use Solid Black for text. A large pixelated area uses large blocks, but a person can sometimes guess a short text under small blocks.

Frame

Frame adds a border or a shadow around the image.

When you open Frame, the editor adds a white Solid frame at once. To remove the frame, click None.

A frame outside the image makes the saved image larger. For example, a Solid frame of 20 px adds 40 px to the width and to the height. If all the product photos must have the same size, crop or resize after you remove the frame, or use the same frame on all of them.

Save the image

1. Click Save.
2. Type the file name, or keep the name of the original.
3. Click OK.

If you keep the name, the editor asks before it replaces the original file. If you type a new name, the editor writes a new file in the same folder, and the original stays. If a file with the new name already exists, the editor shows an error and saves nothing.

The editor saves the image in the file type and the quality of the store:

• System > Configuration > Advanced > System > Storage Configuration for Media > File type for image conversions. The default is WebP.
• System > Configuration > Advanced > System > Storage Configuration for Media > Image quality. The default is 85.

So the extension of the file can change. For example, with WebP, the editor saves bag.jpg as bag.webp. In this case, the original bag.jpg stays in the folder, and the pages that use bag.jpg still show the old image. Insert the new file in these pages.

When the editor replaces a file with the same name, the pages that use it show the new image. The editor also makes the thumbnails of the media library again. A browser can show the old image from its cache for a short time.

The AI tools

Remove BG and Upscale use AI models that run in the browser of the admin user, on the processor or the graphics card of the computer. Many image editors send the photo to an AI service in the cloud. The Maho editor does not:

• The photo never leaves the computer while you edit it.
• No cloud service, AI provider or other third party receives the photo, a copy of it or data about it.
• There is no account, no API key, no subscription and no cost for each image.
• The tools work the same for a photo with private data, for example a photo before you redact it.

The first use of each tool downloads the model, and the status shows the progress of the download. The download only receives the model. It sends no image and no data about the image. The browser then keeps the model in its cache, so the next use starts fast.

The browser downloads the models from huggingface.co, and the AI library from cdn.jsdelivr.net. If a firewall or a proxy blocks these addresses, the AI tools show an error. The other tools work without them.

A browser with WebGPU uses the graphics card, and the AI tools are much faster. Recent versions of Chrome and Edge have WebGPU. Without WebGPU, the tools use the processor. They still work, but they are slower.

Example: make a product photo ready for the store

A supplier sends a photo of 400 × 300 px, with a gray background and a yellow cast. To make it ready for the store:

1. Crop with the 1:1 ratio, to give the photo the shape of the other product photos.
2. Upscale with 4×, to make the photo large enough for the zoom of the product page.
3. Remove BG, then apply a white Solid background.
4. Adjust: click Auto, then fine-tune Temperature and Exposure.
5. Drag across the photo to compare it with the original.
6. Click Save.

Crop first: a smaller image has fewer tiles, so the upscale is faster.