In this section, we answer some of the questions that we’ve encountered most often. Much of this information is also found in this book and in the GIMP documentation, but this appendix provides a quick reference.

Some common questions are not covered because the problems that led to those questions have been solved in the latest version of GIMP. For example, you can no longer lose your layers, paths, channels, selections, guides, layer masks, and so on when saving an image because you can no longer save it in any other format than XCF, which saves all these image components. You are no longer forbidden to export an image to GIF format, even if it is not in indexed representation, because the transformation will be automatically (and silently) done. You can now add a layer mask to a layer even if it has no Alpha channel. Wrapping text is easy, too, thanks to the Fixed Box option for the new and improved Text tool.

Other frequently asked questions dealt with missing features, and many of those features have been added to GIMP 2.8 (they are mentioned in the Introduction). Of course, some users will find that the features they’ve been waiting for haven’t yet been added, and they’ll have to wait for GIMP 3.0. Some of the commonly requested features that have not yet been added are covered in the following answers to questions.