Quick GIMP Tip: Middleclick to open images (Shallow Thoughts)

Quick GIMP Tip: Middleclick to open images

I've wished forever that GIMP could open files and URLs as easily as Mozilla (and Netscape before it) does by selecting the filename in another app then middleclicking to "paste" in the toolbox. (Note: in Mozilla this is controlled by the middlemouse.contentLoadURL preference, and Ubuntu users have to enable it explicitly.)

Well, it turns out GIMP has that feature too, and has had it for a long time. The reason it had never worked for me is that it only works if you click on one (any) of the tool buttons. I was clicking in empty areas of the toolbox window, because it feels weird to click over a button when I don't mean to use that tool.

Now that I know to middleclick on a tool button, middlemouse open works great for Unix paths, file: URLs and even remote URLs (assuming you have Open URL working, of course, which on some systems may require installing gimp-libcurl or gimp-gnomevfs).

Nice! That'll save me some gimp-remote calls.

Tags: gimp
[ 16:21 Feb 26, 2008    More gimp | permalink to this entry | ]