Album DS works as a toolbar for Adobe Photoshop CS or higher. It is an independent application and not a plugin in the exact meaning of the term but what Album DS does is instruct Photoshop what to do giving it capabilities far beyond Photoshop alone. Because Album DS is just tracking elements and instructing Photoshop it won't slow your system like many other programs would.

Album DS saves an enormous amount of time vs. design in Photoshop alone or even vs. other products because you can accomplish in a double click several things at once and there are even options to auto populate templates and whole albums.

For example: if designing with non Album DS templates and you want to place a picture into a sheet (we refer to spreads as sheets) you would need to open the file, copy the layer from the picture file, paste it in the target document (the sheet), resize the picture layer and crop it for your needs.  Using Album DS you only need to select the target shape layer in the document and double click the picture you want in Album DS. Wait, there's more, Album DS will automatically rename the picture layer and create a direct link with the picture you placed and should you need to resize your image or entire album project Album DS will handle it for you even if changing to a different aspect ratio and size including making your project larger. You can rotate your pictures, crop, enhance or any number of things all without leaving Photoshop and Album DS. Your used photos will be tracked as will your used templates and our toolbar makes it easy to find and execute anything you need to, plus you can still use Photoshop's filters and your favorite actions.