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PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor

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  PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-08 11:17 -0800
    Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-10 00:29 -0800
    Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2026-08-10 19:25 +0000
      Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-10 12:17 -0800
      Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Geoff <geoff@nospamgeoffwood.org> - 2026-08-11 16:41 +1200
        Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-10 22:27 -0800
          Re: PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor Geoff <geoff@nospamgeoffwood.org> - 2026-08-12 12:00 +1200

#154822 — PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor

PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor

I just found out about this Android image editor from folks who make flows.
 <https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox>

It's supposedly the best image editor on Android for documenting flows.
a. They save screenshots & pick a few 
b. Then they merge the selected screenshots
c. They annotate them with boxes, text & arrows

Anyone have any experience with it making flows like this?
 <https://i.postimg.cc/NMwxXPz3/merge-screenshots.jpg>

This has the latest versions, one of which is supplied as a universal APK.
 <https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox/releases/tag/4.1.0>
 wget https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox/releases/download/4.1.0/image-toolbox-4.1.0-universal.apk
 Name: image-toolbox-4.1.0-universal.apk
 Size: 216660774 bytes (206 MiB)
 SHA256: A0122FE2558172675D79B8F174FA6F141DAB5C204A441D59B47BB2E069ED51DE

I figured out how to draw onto an image using this flow shown below.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/ncsQHGdm/drawonimage.jpg>

But I'm having trouble anchoring the added anchored text though.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/bNd1Zhvt/annotate.jpg>

Q: Do you know how to add anchored text in that FOSS Android image editor?
A: ???

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#154869

Maria Sophia wrote:
> Q: Do you know how to add anchored text in that FOSS Android image editor?
> A: ???

I figured it out. <https://i.postimg.cc/W3KTTMDQ/draw-path-text.jpg>
a. You have enter the ImageToolbox "Draw" menu
b. You have to set the "Draw Mode" to "A" (text) and type the desired text
c. Just clicking won't place it - you have to actually sweep out a path!

The three things a screenshot editor needs to do are:
1. Add text in desired locations 
2. Add a box around desired locations
3. Add curved arrows (which should not cross fields)

Now to add a box, it's the same sequence.
a. You have enter the ImageToolbox "Draw" menu
b. Set the "Draw Path Mode" to a rectangle or circle
c. Just clicking won't place the box/circle - you have to sweep out a path

To connect the text to the box, it's still the same sequence.
a. You have enter the ImageToolbox "Draw" menu
b. Set the "Draw Path Mode" to a curved arrow (double or single headed)
c. Just clicking won't place the arrow - you have to sweep out a path

Voila! <https://i.postimg.cc/xCW8trPQ/image-annotation.jpg>

The main things needed to annotate screenshots to show flows is there.
A. Merge screenshots (vertically or horizontally, scaling as needed)
B. Annotate with boxes, text and curved arrows 

A lot of people might not intuitively grasp why a curved arrow is critical,
but if it crosses over something they care about, they'll figure it out
right away that the arrow should stay always in neutral space.
-- 
Every Usenet thread should be designed as a learning experience for all.

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#154897

In rec.photo.digital, Maria Sophia  <pusvul@getTjewytR4so+mqe2.invalid> wrote:
> PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor
> 
> I just found out about this Android image editor from folks who make flows.
>  <https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox>
> 
> It's supposedly the best image editor on Android for documenting flows.
> a. They save screenshots & pick a few 
> b. Then they merge the selected screenshots
> c. They annotate them with boxes, text & arrows
[...]

I was intrigued and installed this from F-Droid (search for "Image Toolbox"
as two words was the hard part). I edited one image with it as a test.
The app feels sleazy in the way that drives me away from so much of the
stuff in "Play" store.

It may well be "the best FOSS Android image editor" but I'll stick with
less best that feels more wholesome.

Elijah
------
your mileage (and preferences) may vary

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#154898

Eli the Bearded wrote:
> I was intrigued and installed this from F-Droid (search for "Image Toolbox"
> as two words was the hard part). I edited one image with it as a test.
> The app feels sleazy in the way that drives me away from so much of the
> stuff in "Play" store.
> 
> It may well be "the best FOSS Android image editor" but I'll stick with
> less best that feels more wholesome.


Thanks for testing the FOSS Android Image Toolbox out for the team. 
  <https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox>

I had only heard of it a couple of days ago when I had complained on
another site that there wasn't any good image editor that did these things
 1. Easily merge screenshots (vertical, horizontal, resize as needed)
 2. Easily draw a box around something (round, rectangular, whatever)
 3. Easily draw curved arrows (so that they can be routed around stuff)
 4. Easily add text where desired (sizes, fonts, placement, whatever)
 5. Easily remove the metadata (e.g., EXIF) prior to uploading to the net

As far as I know, this is the only FOSS Android tool that does all that.
Of course, it does a lot more. Like format conversion, Exif modification, 
cutting and flipping and rotating, resize by weight or limits, etc.

It can also mess with PDF, in so much as it view PDF and merge images into
PDF, convert images to PDF and vice versa, remove PDF pages, rotate,
rearrange PDF pages, add page numbers to PDF, add electronic signatures to
PDFs, remove annotations from PDF, grayscale, flatten, repair, unlock PDFs, 
extract images, etc.

It also has QR & barcode and cipher and zip and ascii art and jxl and apng
and webp and checksum tools.

If it works, a keeper feature might be the OCR features in PDF-to-Text, 
although it might just spit out the inherent text in a nonbitmap PDF.

Dunno if that stuff works well or not, but, as far as I know, it's the only
FOSS tool on Android that does the main things needed to annotate
screenshots for upload to the Internet.

Note that it has the same issue all powerful image editors have.
The learning curve is steep.

Ask me how I know this... 
 <https://i.postimg.cc/pTnPx2j4/imagetoolbox.jpg>

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#154902

On 11/08/2026 7:25 am, Eli the Bearded wrote:
> In rec.photo.digital, Maria Sophia  <pusvul@getTjewytR4so+mqe2.invalid> wrote:
>> PSA: ImageToolbox is supposedly the best FOSS Android image editor
>>
>> I just found out about this Android image editor from folks who make flows.
>>   <https://github.com/T8RIN/ImageToolbox>
>>
>> It's supposedly the best image editor on Android for documenting flows.
>> a. They save screenshots & pick a few
>> b. Then they merge the selected screenshots
>> c. They annotate them with boxes, text & arrows
> [...]
> 
> I was intrigued and installed this from F-Droid (search for "Image Toolbox"
> as two words was the hard part). I edited one image with it as a test.
> The app feels sleazy in the way that drives me away from so much of the
> stuff in "Play" store.
> 
> It may well be "the best FOSS Android image editor" but I'll stick with
> less best that feels more wholesome.
> 
> Elijah
> ------
> your mileage (and preferences) may vary

So many 'best' things seem to suffer like that. I installed Irfanview 
for a period, but found some of the even the basic functions quirky and 
unintuitive.

-- 
geoff

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#154904

Geoff wrote:
>> your mileage (and preferences) may vary
> 
> So many 'best' things seem to suffer like that. I installed Irfanview 
> for a period, but found some of the even the basic functions quirky and 
> unintuitive.

Wow. Tough customer! :)

Still, it's good to get other people's observations of editing tools!

We're all different.

There are very few people who don't use Irfanview, but as with all
software, there are, as you say, 'quirks' such as constantly setting the
Windows background to the current image by mistake until the more recent
releases where, if you hit the keys, it will finally *ask* you if that's
what you wanted to do (and, it's almost never, if not never, what you
wanted to do, so that was a 'quirk' that the developer finally resolved).

Even the venerable The GIMP will do everything you need to do, but with its
own set of quirks. For example, drawing a box and texting and arrowing is
way harder than it needs to be when you compared with Paint.NET usability.

It has been years since I tried Pinta, which was supposed to replace
Paint.NET (which has its own 'quirks', such as needing dot.NET crap).
 <https://pinta-project.com/pintaproject/pinta/releases>

While Paint.NET is basically a free Photoshop on Windows, it too has
quirks, such as the fact that you can't save your canvas values.
 <https://www.dotpdn.com/downloads/pdn.html>

Anyway, for those of us who do extensive screenshot editing, the main
things any editor needs to do is
 1. It has to merge images well
 2. It has to draw boxes and circles well
 3. It has to add text anywhere you want it
 4. And it has to draw curved arrows so as to avoid objects

The hardest thing to get in an editor is the curved arrow, where even
Paint.NET doesn't have as many handles to modify the curve as PhotoShop.

I noticed that the suggested Image ToolBox also lacks handles, so its
curved arrows are not nearly as smooth as those with Paint.NET.

Take a look at this image, for example. Can you tell the difference in the
Android curved Arrows versus the Windows curved arrows in the editing?
 <https://i.postimg.cc/0506CkNt/curved-arrows.jpg>

BTW, I found another, perhaps easier but less functional way to add text
using the Android Image Tool Box, which is to use the Markup Layer tool.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/KzFGKTtj/markuplayer.jpg>

It's good to get other people's observations of editing tools!
-- 
Every Usenet thread should be designed as a learning experience for all.

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#154930

On 11/08/2026 6:27 pm, Maria Sophia wrote:
> Geoff wrote:
>>> your mileage (and preferences) may vary
>>
>> So many 'best' things seem to suffer like that. I installed Irfanview
>> for a period, but found some of the even the basic functions quirky and
>> unintuitive.
> 
> Wow. Tough customer! :)
> 
.........

> 
> It's good to get other people's observations of editing tools!

Yep, and give them all a good try. One day one might have everything 
just right for me. But that may not be just right for others ....

-- 
geoff

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