Why are Nik Collection apps either not appearing or are showing as duplicates within Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements?

This information applies to version(s): 2018, 2, 3, 4, 5

This typically occurs if previous versions haven't been completely uninstalled. In such cases we recommend using the Nik Cleaning Tool.

• To learn more about the Nik Cleaning tool for macOS and how to use it, please click on this link.
• To learn more about the Nik Cleaning tool for Windows and how to use it, please click on this link.

If you prefer not to use the Cleaning tool, you can delete the files in question manually. Before doing so, please uninstall any existing Nik version(s) on your computer (Google and/or DxO versions if relevant).

Then manually check that there’s no Nik sub-repositories ( i.e. “Analog Efex Pro 2”, “Color Efex Pro 4”, “Dfine 2”, “HDR Efex Pro 2”, “Selective Tool”, “Sharpener Pro 3”, “Silver Efex Pro 2”, “Viveza 2”):

For Windows:

• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Elements *\Plug-ins\Google (for Photoshop Elements versions)
• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Elements *\Plug-ins\DxO (for Photoshop Elements versions)
• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS *\Plug-ins\Google (for Photoshop CS versions)
• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS *\Plug-ins\DxO (for Photoshop CS versions)
• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC *\Plug-ins\Google (for Photoshop CC versions before 2015.5)
• C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC *\Plug-ins\DxO (for Photoshop CC versions before 2015.5)
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\Google (for Photoshop CC versions above 2015.5)
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\DxO (for Photoshop CC versions above 2015.5)

Then, please delete all Nik related repositories from C:\ProgramData\Google and C:\ProgramData\DxO.

For macOS:

• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements */Support Files/Plug-Ins/Google (for Photoshop Elements versions)
• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements */Support Files/Plug-Ins/DxO (for Photoshop Elements versions)
• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS */Plug-Ins/Google (for Photoshop CS versions)
• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS */Plug-Ins/DxO (for Photoshop CS versions)
• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC */Plug-Ins/Google (for Photoshop CC versions before 2015.5)
• /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC */Plug-Ins/DxO (for Photoshop CC versions before 2015.5)
• /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CC/Google (for Photoshop CC versions above 2015.5)
• /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CC/DxO (for Photoshop CC versions above 2015.5)

Finally, please re-install the latest Nik Collection version from your customer account Also, please try resetting to default ‘Photoshop preferences,’ this might also solve the issue:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

In some cases, we observed that a clean reinstall of Photoshop solved the issue.

Please note, that Nik HDR Efex is not available in Photoshop Elements.