Enter path in dialogs

[kiwichick]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything using Search. Can someone please explain to me why it's not possible to enter (manually or copy and paste) a path in any of the dialogs for Open, Save, Export? It is so not user-friendly and I can't for the life of me imagine why it would be designed this way. And can someone please also tell me what the "Search" is for in these dialogs?

[Ofnuts]

• When you enter the dialog, it is set to Recent files so you have no other choice but the list of recent files/directories
  
• If you click on Search on the left, you get an entry field at the top. You can enter (part of) a file name and it will list all matching files in you user files in the widget below (this can take a while...)
  
• If you click on anything else on the left (so, a path to a directory), the path id displayed at the top with a pencil icon at the extreme left. If you click that icon an entry field appears and if you paste in it
  • a file path:  the file is opened directly
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    
• In all cases, if you drag & drop an object from your file explorer to the the big list widget:
  • a file: the parent directory contents are shown and the file is pre-selected
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    

(this is how it behaves on Linux but IIRC the Windows behavior isn't very different).

[kiwichick]

(04-13-2022, 07:03 AM)Ofnuts Wrote:

• When you enter the dialog, it is set to Recent files so you have no other choice but the list of recent files/directories
  
• If you click on Search on the left, you get an entry field at the top. You can enter (part of) a file name and it will list all matching files in you user files in the widget below (this can take a while...)
  
• If you click on anything else on the left (so, a path to a directory), the path id displayed at the top with a pencil icon at the extreme left. If you click that icon an entry field appears and if you paste in it
  • a file path:  the file is opened directly
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    
• In all cases, if you drag & drop an object from your file explorer to the the big list widget:
  • a file: the parent directory contents are shown and the file is pre-selected
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    

(this is how it behaves on Linux but IIRC the Windows behavior isn't very different).

Thanks for that, I'm aware of pretty much all of those. No, the pencil icon does not appear on a Windows system. It really annoys me because GIMP Help says the same thing (and shows a screenshot of it) but fails to mention that it doesn't work on Windows. I must admit I fail to understand quite a bit of why GIMP is designed the way it is.

[Ottia Tuota]

(04-13-2022, 11:21 PM)kiwichick Wrote: Thanks for that, I'm aware of pretty much all of those. No, the pencil icon does not appear on a Windows system. It really annoys me because GIMP Help says the same thing (and shows a screenshot of it) but fails to mention that it doesn't work on Windows. I must admit I fail to understand quite a bit of why GIMP is designed the way it is.

Works for me ok with Windows 11 and Gimp 2.10.20.

[Ofnuts]

(04-13-2022, 11:21 PM)kiwichick Wrote:

(04-13-2022, 07:03 AM)Ofnuts Wrote:

• When you enter the dialog, it is set to Recent files so you have no other choice but the list of recent files/directories
  
• If you click on Search on the left, you get an entry field at the top. You can enter (part of) a file name and it will list all matching files in you user files in the widget below (this can take a while...)
  
• If you click on anything else on the left (so, a path to a directory), the path id displayed at the top with a pencil icon at the extreme left. If you click that icon an entry field appears and if you paste in it
  • a file path:  the file is opened directly
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    
• In all cases, if you drag & drop an object from your file explorer to the the big list widget:
  • a file: the parent directory contents are shown and the file is pre-selected
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    

(this is how it behaves on Linux but IIRC the Windows behavior isn't very different).

Thanks for that, I'm aware of pretty much all of those. No, the pencil icon does not appear on a Windows system. It really annoys me because GIMP Help says the same thing (and shows a screenshot of it) but fails to mention that it doesn't work on Windows. I must admit I fail to understand quite a bit of why GIMP is designed the way it is.

There is indeed a pencil icon on Windows:




What I described is valid for Open, but not Save/Export which is a different dialog, and in which you cannot edit the path.

This isn't really Gimp's design, but the GTK2 library that Gimp uses and is a standard on Linux. The next Gimp version uses GTK3 and the file dialog is a bit different.

[kiwichick]

(04-14-2022, 05:07 AM)Ofnuts Wrote:

(04-13-2022, 11:21 PM)kiwichick Wrote:

(04-13-2022, 07:03 AM)Ofnuts Wrote:

• When you enter the dialog, it is set to Recent files so you have no other choice but the list of recent files/directories
  
• If you click on Search on the left, you get an entry field at the top. You can enter (part of) a file name and it will list all matching files in you user files in the widget below (this can take a while...)
  
• If you click on anything else on the left (so, a path to a directory), the path id displayed at the top with a pencil icon at the extreme left. If you click that icon an entry field appears and if you paste in it
  • a file path:  the file is opened directly
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    
• In all cases, if you drag & drop an object from your file explorer to the the big list widget:
  • a file: the parent directory contents are shown and the file is pre-selected
    
  • a directory: the directory contents are shown
    

(this is how it behaves on Linux but IIRC the Windows behavior isn't very different).

Thanks for that, I'm aware of pretty much all of those. No, the pencil icon does not appear on a Windows system. It really annoys me because GIMP Help says the same thing (and shows a screenshot of it) but fails to mention that it doesn't work on Windows. I must admit I fail to understand quite a bit of why GIMP is designed the way it is.

There is indeed a pencil icon on Windows:




What I described is valid for Open, but not Save/Export which is a different dialog, and in which you cannot edit the path.

This isn't really Gimp's design, but the GTK2 library that Gimp uses and is a standard on Linux. The next Gimp version uses GTK3 and the file dialog is a bit different.

I apologise, I didn't check it using the Open dialog because I've never used it. I open images in GIMP from my file explorer app. Yes you are correct, it does show the pencil icon for Open but not for Save/Export. Why not? Yet another thing about GIMP that makes absolutely no sense to me. Why not be consistent for all dialogs?

[Ofnuts]

Well, it turns out that in a Save dialog, you can paste a complete path to a file in the "Name" field and it will be used. And if you paste a path to a directory, you get a completion list dropdown so you can terminate the line with the name of a file in that directory (or type a new name...).

[kiwichick]

(04-16-2022, 12:57 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: Well, it turns out that in a Save dialog, you can paste a complete path to a file in the "Name" field and it will be used. And if you paste a path to a directory, you get a completion list dropdown so you can terminate the line with the name of a file in that directory (or type a new name...).

OMG thank you so much! It also works for Export. You can also just paste the path and hit Enter. I quite often want to rename files the same as an already existing file with maybe just a number or word on the end. So now I can paste the path, hit Enter, select a file in the center window, and alter the name up in the Name field. Not at all intuitive and not documented anywhere I could find in the Help docs but at least it can be done. Brilliant!!!!

[erwinschrdngr]

Hi,


I can't find the pencil button in GIMP 2.99 in Windows. Is this a bug or is somethig that has not been implemented yet?

Thanks,

[Ofnuts]

(09-15-2023, 07:14 PM)erwinschrdngr Wrote: Hi,


I can't find the pencil button in GIMP 2.99 in Windows. Is this a bug or is somethig that has not been implemented yet?

Thanks,

Plenty of missing things in 2.99...