GIMP Bible

Chapter 3. Working with Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Opening files in GIMP

• Moving data from one file to another

• Undoing mistakes

• Saving your work

GIMP's purpose is to help you create and edit digital images. With a few exceptions (such as tying GIMP to code on a web site to create or modify image data on the fly — yes, this is actually possible), those digital images are stored as files. That being the case, GIMP has to provide you some tools to manage those files and the data that resides within them. This chapter shows you the full variety of tools and options that GIMP puts in your hands.

You may notice while going through this chapter that GIMP's file management tools, like the Open Image dialog, don't use the native File Open dialog used by most of programs on your computer. There are arguments on either side of this, but the good thing for you as the user is that GIMP's tools typically do more than the native one, so you get more helpful features. And just as importantly, you get the same GIMP on any computer you use, regardless of the underlying operating system. I carry a thumb drive around with me that has a functioning copy of GIMP for Windows and Mac on it so I can plug it in and edit images from virtually any computer I sit behind without installing anything. Not only is that extremely cool, but it's quite reassuring to know that I don't have to make any mental adjustments that are dependent on the machine I'm using.

Opening Files

So you want to modify an image in GIMP. Nearly all ...