manual/include/plugin-manager.html

<p>
  The <dfn>Plugin Selector</dfn> serves two purposes. Primarily it is used to
  control the display status of plugins. It can also be used to find and insert
  plugins into the <a href="@@processor-box">Processor Box</a>. It is
  displayed either by a double-click in the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> or by
  choosing <kbd class="menu">New Plugin &gt; Plugin Selector&hellip;</kbd>
  from the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menu.
</p>

<p>
  Displayed for each plugin is the status (favorite, hidden),
  name, tags, creator (author), type, and the number of audio and MIDI
  connections. The plugins can be sorted by clicking on a column header.
</p>

<figure class=center>
<img src="/images/plugin-selector.png" alt="The Plugin Selector window"/>
<figcaption class=center>The Plugin Selector window.</figcaption>
</figure>

<h2>Plugin Display Status</h2>

<p>
  Clicking on a <em>Fav</em>(orite) or <em>Hide</em> radio button changes
  a plugin's display status.
  Clicking on an already selected radio button will cancel it, returning the
  plugin to the normal display status. Plugins marked as a favorite show up in
  the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menu under
  <kbd class="menu">New Plugin &gt; Favorites</kbd> and in the 
  <a href="@@favorite-plugins-window">Favorite Plugins window</a>. Setting the hide
  radio button on a plugin will keep the plugin from showing in the
  <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menus
  <kbd class="menu">New Plugin &gt; By Creator</kbd> or
  <kbd class="menu">New Plugin &gt; By Category</kbd>.
</p>

<h2>Filtering Listed Plugins</h2>

<p>
  The bottom left part of the <dfn>Plugin Selector</dfn> is used to filter the listed
  plugins.
</p>
<p>
  The center <dfn>Filter</dfn> column allows to show only some of the plugins, based
  on what they are, their properties, format, creator...
</p>
<p>
  Moreover, direct text search are available in the the Search text-field
  on the bottom left. Only the plugins that match <em>all</em> the search terms
  (space separated) will show up in the upper list.
</p>
<p>
  This textual search can be matched against Name and/or Tags by checking
  the relevant momentary buttons under the search field. 
  <kbd class="menu">Ignore Filters when searching</kbd> displays all the matching
  plugins, regardless of the active <em>Filters</em>.
</p>

<h2>Tags</h2>

<p>
  Tags are text labels that can be used to mark a plugin. They are totally
  free in their content, allowing the user to mark a plugin with whatever
  info is relevant to him, but cannot include spaces (as spaces are used
  to separate tags) or special characters except dashes, colons and underscores. 
</p>
<p>
  Adding or removing tags is as simple as editing the <dfn>Tags for Selected Plugin</dfn>
  field while the targeted plugin is selected.
</p>
<p>
  Ardour comes with a large selection of tags for provided or usual plugins,
  that are used by default but can be modified at will. It is possible to
  go back to this "standard" tagging for a plugin by clicking the 
  <kbd class="menu">Reset</kbd> button.
</p>

<h2>Inserting Plugins in the Processor Box</h2>

<p>
  The bottom-right part of the Plugin Selector <dfn>Plugins to be connected</dfn>
  shows plugins that have been selected for insertion into the 
  <dfn>Processor Box</dfn>. A plugin can be added by either double clicking
  the plugin entry in the top part, or, if already selected in top left part, 
  by clicking the <kbd class="menu">Add</kbd> button.
<p>

<p>
  Plugins can be removed from the right part with a double click, or, if
  already selected, by clicking <kbd class="menu">Remove</kbd>.
</p>