save in GIMP?

**richkat** · #1 10-18-2012, 06:46 PM

How do you save a file in GIMP? When I try to save in GIMP i get a
"the given file name does not have any known file extension"
HELP what do I do to save as a PDF.....Rich

**Vermin_King** · #2 10-18-2012, 07:42 PM

you can't save to pdf. you have to save to their extension. to get a pdf, you have to 'print' that file to pdf

**a380** · #3 10-18-2012, 10:55 PM

you can save as pdf by selecting file>export>select pdf in the bottom right drop down box>change the file extension to pdf in the name box>hit the export button>a window asking if you want to save as vector if possible pops up>i always check it>hit export button in the small window. hope it works for you.

**thorst** · #4 10-19-2012, 03:55 AM

a380 is correct.

Just to add: the 'export' function is new and replaces the 'save' function if you
want to save the picture in any common image format. 'save' now only works
with the GIMP-intern file format .xcf which is a bit similar to the photoshop-format.
This means that all layers and layer profiles and so on are included. So if you have
any complex work, save it as .xcf before uniting all layers to one and then export to
.jpg or whatever.

Thorsten

**cfuruti** · #5 10-19-2012, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thorst

a380 is correct.

Just to add: the 'export' function is new and replaces the 'save' function if you
want to save the picture in any common image format. 'save' now only works
with the GIMP-intern file format .xcf which is a bit similar to the photoshop-format.
This means that all layers and layer profiles and so on are included. So if you have
any complex work, save it as .xcf before uniting all layers to one and then export to
.jpg or whatever.

Thorsten

To be precise, File>Export is new in GIMP 2.8, and at least in Linux it can export to PDF too. In GIMP 2.6 and others, use File>Save.
Agreed on saving as .xcf (I usually save as .xcf.gz or .xcf.bz2, with transparent compression), flattening/merging layers and then exporting as a plain format like .png or .jpg. However, I usually Image>Duplicate and Image>flatten/merge the duplicate, leaving the work copy intact.

**richkat** · #6 10-19-2012, 02:37 PM

WOW, thank you all.....I love this forum!!......Rich

**SJPONeill** · #7 10-19-2012, 04:57 PM

I only installed 2.6 in May and now it's up to 2.8! Looks like a major upgrade and the inclusion of the PDF export tool will be handy...

Wish GIMP had a 'check for update' tool though...

**thorst** · #8 10-19-2012, 05:35 PM

I like the single window mode which came with 2.8... Didn't really get used to the
multiple windows of the previous versions. Now I can hardly find a difference to my old
PS Elements version on which I learned picture manipulation 10 years ago. If they now
add filter layers, I can't find anything missing... They really do a great job with GIMP.

Thorsten

**Vermin_King** · #9 10-19-2012, 05:38 PM

I'll have to update as well. I never could get my settings on Print to pdf to do full pages. It always left a margin, and a scale reduction. Sounds great