Working with Plugins

A plugin is an optional software component that adds specific functionality to Unreal Engine. Plugins can add entirely new features and modify built-in functionality without modifying the Unreal Engine code directly. For example, a plugin might add new menu items and toolbar commands to the editor, or even add entirely new features and editor sub-modes.

You can enable or disable plugins independently for each project, depending on your needs.

There are two types of plugins available in Unreal Engine:

• Unreal Engine plugins.

• Third-party plugins.

Enabling a Plugin

To enable an Unreal Engine plugin, follow these steps:

1. From the main menu, go to Edit > Plugins. This opens the Plugins window.

   Plugins window in Unreal Engine 5.

2. Find the plugin you want to enable using the list on the left of the screen. Alternatively, enter a term in the Search box to search for all plugin names and descriptions that contain this term.

   This example shows all search results for the term "xr". Note that the search term is highlighted everywhere it appears.

3. To enable a plugin, click the checkbox next to it.

   Enabling a plugin

   For plugins that are not production-ready, such as beta plugins, you might see a warning asking you to confirm that you want to enable that plugin.

4. Save your work, then restart Unreal Engine.

Third-party plugins might require additional steps before you can enable them. For more information, refer to the documentation for the third-party plugin you want to install. Note that Epic Games is not responsible for the contents of third-party plugins.

Disabling a Plugin

To disable a plugin, follow these steps:

1. From the main menu, go to Edit > Plugins. This opens the Plugins window.

   Plugins window in Unreal Engine 5.

2. Find the plugin you want to disable using the list on the left of the screen. Alternatively, enter a term in the Search box to search for all plugin names and descriptions that contain this term.

   This example shows all search results for the term "xr". Note that the search term is highlighted everywhere it appears.

3. To disable a plugin, clear the checkbox next to it.

   Disabling a plugin

   If the plugin you want to disable is a dependency for other plugins (that is, other plugins require it to function), you will see a notification asking you if you want to disable those plugins as well. Note that this might break existing functionality in your project if you used any of those plugins to implement it.

4. Save your work, then restart Unreal Engine.

Installing Plugins from the Unreal Engine Marketplace

While Unreal Engine contains plugins that offer many different kinds of functionality, you can also install additional plugins from the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

To install a plugin using this method, follow the steps below. These steps use the free glTF Exporter plugin by Epic Games as an example.

1. In the Epic Games Launcher, navigate to the Unreal Engine tab, then go to Marketplace.

2. Search for the plugin you want to install.

3. On the plugin's tile, click Add to Cart.

4. Click the Cart button and check out.

   For free plugins, you don't need to perform any additional steps at this stage. For paid plugins, you must complete the payment process before you can use them.

   After you check out, the plugin's tile will display the word OWNED.

5. Go to the plugin's page in the Launcher. You can do this by searching for the plugin, then clicking the plugin's tile. Then, on the plugin's tile, click Install to Engine.

6. Select the engine version you want to install the plugin to, then click Install.

   This dropdown menu only shows the Unreal Engine versions that the plugin supports, even if you have other Unreal Engine versions installed.

7. After the installation completes, open the version of Unreal Engine you installed the plugin for, and enable the plugin following the instructions in the Enabling a Plugin section on this page.

Plugin Installation Locations

Unreal Engine stores all plugins at the following locations:

• C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_[version]\Engine\Plugins on Windows

• /Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_[version]/Engine/Plugins on macOS