This is the simplest method of installation, and provides for automatic updating of the plugin. It is the recommended installation method.
Start QGIS and select the Plugins menu, Fetch Python plugins... as shown at the right.
On the resulting dialog screen, select the Options tab, and ensure the third option, Show all plugins, even those marked as experimental is chosen.
To be notified of updates and automatically install them, tick the Check for updates on startup option. This can be done once a day or every time QGIS starts. If you do not have continuous Internet connection and do not want to slow the QGIS startup process, this can be left clear. QGIS will always check for updates as soon as you open the Fetch Python plugins... dialog.
Finally, select the Plugins tab, click on the Name field to sort the plugins into order, and then scroll down until Forest Management Toolkit is seen. Double click on this or press the Install Plugin button to install. The Forestry menu will then be seen and installation is complete.
Note that when using this method, there is no need to download the plugin first, as described on the Download page. The installation process makes no changes to Windows Registry or Path settings. The alternative manual installation method, described below, can be used if you have difficulty with the the automated installation, or would like to fully understand what is installed on your system and where.
This method is more complex than that described above, and does not provide for automatic updating of the plugin. The file eoFMT.zip must first be downloaded to your system as described on the Download page.
Using the file explorer or finder on your system, locate the base directory into which QGIS has been installed. The image at the right shows an example from a Windows XP installation where QGIS has been installed into the directory E:\progs\qgis16, which we will refer to as QGIS_root. Note the subdirectory QGIS_root/apps/qgis/python/plugins/. From the downloaded file eoFMT.zip, extract and copy the directory eoFMT with its contents to this location.
The eoFMT directory has the following critical files required for the installation
It may also have other working files. These are not required, and if omitted, will not affect the installation. The main source code is contained in eoFMTplugin.py. The __init__.py is a short protocol file required for QGIS plugins. eofmt.png contains an icon for the package.
Once these file installations have been made, open QGIS and from the menu, select Plugins, then Manage Plugins. This will bring up a list similar to that shown below (the dialog colour scheme will depend on the operating system). The Forest Management Toolkit will be seen in this list. Check it and click the OK button. A new menu Forestry will then be seen in the menu bar, giving access to the FMT functions. Please see the Users Guide for further information about testing and using the program.