In this help article, I’ll be showing you how to download and install darktable 4.0 on a MAC (yes, the “d” in darktable is not capitalized on purpose). For those of you who aren’t familiar with darktable, this software is a free and open source RAW image processor that has tons of tools for editing RAW photos. It is most similar to Adobe Lightroom, and just as capable. Let’s dive in to how to download and install the software!
Step 1: Navigate to the Install Page
For starters, navigate to the darktable website at darktable.org. From the home page, click on the “Install” tab (red arrow in the image above) to be taken to the Install page.
Once on the install page, scroll down to view the install links for the various operating systems.
Step 2: Download the darktable DMG File
You will see three options here: Source Code (for Linux machines), Windows, and macOS (green arrow in the image above). Since we’re installing darktable for MAC computers in this article, we’ll want to use one of the two links in the macOS section (there’s actually three links here, but the third link is just notes on the installation).
As to which link you’ll want to use will depend on the type of MAC you are using. If you’re using a slightly older MAC that uses the Intel chips, you’ll want to click the first download link (red arrow in the image above). If you are using a newer MAC that uses the Apple silicon chips (you can see a list of computer that use these chips here), you’ll want to click the second download link (blue arrow).
In my case, my computer is using an Intel chip, so I’ll click the first option.
No matter which option you click, you’ll next be asked where you’d like to save the DMG file. I’ll stick with my default location – the Downloads folder (red arrow) – and click “Save” (green arrow).
Step 3: Drag Darktable Into Your Applications Folder
You’ll see the file downloading in the lower left corner of your browser. Once the download is complete, click on the DMG file to open it (green arrow).
You’ll now see a window showing the darktable logo on the left side, and the Applications folder for your computer on the right side. Drag and drop darktable (green arrow) into your Applications folder (red arrow). Now darktable is installed on your computer!
You can navigate to your applications folder (green arrow in the above image) at any time via your Finder window and double-click on the Darktable icon (red arrow) to open the app on your computer.
That’s it for this tutorial on how to download and install Darktable 4.0 on a MAC computer! If you liked it, you can check out my other Darktable tutorials on my site.
