User Guide

GNU Image Manipulation Program
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Chapter 4
Getting Unstuck
4.1 Getting Unstuck
4.1.1 Stuck!
All right, okay: you’re stuck. You’re trying to use one of the tools on an image, and nothing is happening, and nothing you try
makes any difference. Your fists are starting to clench, and your face is starting to feel warm. Are you going to have to kill the
program, and lose all your work? This sucks!
Well, hold on a second. This happens pretty frequently, even to people who’ve used the GIMP for a long time, but generally the
cause is not so hard to figure out (and fix) if you know what to look at. Lets be calm, and go through a checklist that will probably
get you GIMPing happily again.
4.1.2 Common Causes of GIMP Non-Responsiveness
There is a floating selection
Figure 4.1: Layers dialog showing a floating selection.
How to tell: If there is a floating selection, many actions are impossible until it is anchored. To check, look at the Layers
dialog (making sure it’s set to the image you’re working on) and see whether the top layer is called ‘Floating Selection’.