Plug‑in modules are software programs developed by Adobe Systems and other software developers to add functionality to Photoshop Elements. A number of importing, exporting, and special-effects plug‑ins come with your program; they are inside the Photoshop Elements Plug‑ins folder. You can select an additional plug‑ins folder in which to load compatible plug‑ins stored with another application. You can also create a shortcut for a plug‑in stored in another folder on your system. You can then add the shortcut or alias to the Plug‑ins folder to use that plug‑in with Photoshop Elements. Once installed, plug‑in modules appear as options added to the Import or Export menu, as filters added to the Filter menu, or as file formats in the Open and Save As dialog boxes. If you install a large number of plug‑ins, Photoshop Elements may not be able to list them all in their appropriate menus. If so, newly installed plug‑ins appear in the Filter > Other submenu. To prevent a plug‑in or folder of plug‑ins from loading, add a tilde character (~) at the beginning of the plug‑in name, folder, or directory. That file (or all files in the folder) is ignored by the application when you restart it. To view information about installed plug‑ins, choose Help > About Plug‑In and select a plug‑in from the submenu.