5.3.  Open

This command activates a dialog that allows you to load an existing image from your hard-drive or an external medium. For alternative, and sometimes more convenient, ways of opening files, see the Files section.

5.3.1.  Activate Dialog

  • The dialog for opening an image file can be called from the toolbox or from an image menu, as FileOpen.

  • You can open the Dialog by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-O.

5.3.2.  File browsing

Figure 10.21.  Open Dialog

Open Dialog
1

The left panel is divided into two parts. In the upper part you have your main directories and your storage devices; you can't modify this list. In the lower part, you have a list of bookmarks; you can add or remove bookmarks. To add a bookmark, you select a directory or a file in the middle pannel and you click on the Add in the left pannel. You can delete a bookmark by selecting it and clicking on the Remove button.

2

The middle panel displays a list of the files in the current directory. You select a file by a single left click (a double left click opens the file directly; if you have selected a file different from the current one, a message warns you before overwriting).

Right-clicking on the middle panel leads to the “Open Location” dialog that allows you to type a path to a file (you can also open this dialog by Ctrl+L).

3

The selected image is displayed in the Preview if it is an image created by GIMP. File size, resolution and composition are displayed below preview.

[Tip] Tip

If your image has been modified by another program, click on preview to update it.

4

Above the middle panel, the path of the current directory is displayed: you can navigate along this path by clicking on an element.

5

"All files" by default. This means that all file types will be displayed in the middle panel, even if they are not image. You can filter the list for a particular file type.

6

Select File Type: In most cases you don't need to pay any attention to this, because GIMP can determine the file type automatically. In a few rare situations, neither the file extension nor internal information suffice to tell GIMP the file type. If this happens, you can set it by selecting it from the list.