Yes, there is a new Nik Collection by DxO, but quite expensive and offers almost the same as former Nik Collection by Google (and don’t forget, Nik Collection is much more than just filters). Although the Google Nik Collection is no longer available on Google’s web site, it’s still available on many servers (and some of them very trustworthy – instaluj.cz or archive.org (v. 1.2.11)).

After you download the file, install the Nik Collection as any other software and then tell Affinity Photo where to look for this plugin. It’s straightforward and easy. Here’s how to do it:

1. Choose the language for the installation:

Choose the language for the installation

2. Choose the install location:

Choose the install location

3. Select a folder where Affinity will search for this plugin (click on “+”):

Select a folder where Affinity will search for this plugin

4. I created a new folder “Affinity Plugins” for this purpose located on E:\ – but you can choose whatever you want:

Folder "Affinity Plugins" for this purpose located on E:\

5. Voilà, Compatible Host Application added, click on Install:

Voilà, Compatible Host Application added, click on Install

6. Installation is complete 🙂

Installation is complete

7. Now we need to tell Affinity Photo where to search for Nik Collection plugins. So we need to launch Affinity Photo.

8. In Affinity Photo, click your way to Edit -> Preferences:

In Affinity Photo, click your way to Edit -> Preferences:

9. Select “Photoshop Plugins”:

Select "Photoshop Plugins"

10. Add the path to the “Compatible Host Applications” folder from steps 3 – 6 (in my case it is “E:\Affinity Plugins“) – just click on Add and select the appropriate folder:

Add the path to the “Compatible Host Applications” folder from steps 3 – 6 (in my case it is “E:\Affinity Plugins“) – just click on Add and select the appropriate folder:

11. Maybe you’ll be surprised – this folder doesn’t contain the plugins itself – the plugin is located where you installed it – in my case “C:\Program Files\Google\Nik Collection“; this folder – “E:\Affinity Plugins” contains only links and config files for the plugin itself.

12. Voilà, folder added 🙂 Click on Close

Voilà, folder added :-) Click on Close

13. We need to restart Affinity Photo so these newly added plugins can be loaded.

We need to restart Affinity Photo so these new added plugins can be loaded.

14. After Affinity Photo restarts, you can verify that Nik Collection plugins are detected and loaded:

After Affinity Photo restarts you can make sure Nik Collection plugins detected and loaded

15. If you open some image, you can try these new plugins for yourself under Filters -> Plugins -> Nik Collection 🙂

If you open some image, you can try these new plugins for yourself under Filters -> Plugins -> Nik Collection :-)

16. Just remember that when you apply some of these filters in Affinity Photo, they are applied to the active layer – don’t expect that plugin will create a new layer. So better duplicate your active layer so your work can be nondestructive.

This older blogpost has hugely inspired the tutorial – but was written for the Mac and some older version of Affinity Photo. This one is for the Windows environment.