GIMP Version: 2.8.14
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: Windows 10
GIMP Experience: New User

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Have a Word document with some pictures. Going to convert it to epub format via Calibre. They advise that pictures should be used with “In Line with Text”. That works well with some of the pictures but not so well with others. With the others I want to use “Square” which places the picture in the middle of the paragraph that is talking about it. Regardless of how much distance I specify to be used between the text and picture, HTML ignores it and puts the text right up against the picture. This makes it hard to read and looks bad.
My possible solution is to put a transparent frame around the picture thus creating what appears to be a space between the text and picture.
Can someone please give me precise instructions on how to create a transparent frame around a picture?

What could work is to export the document as a PDF and then use a free online 'pdf to epub' converter.

I have never done this but it may save a lot of time.

Really using Gimp 2.8? The screenshots are 2.8 but Gimp 2.10 is almost the same.

If you need transparency, best that the image has an alpha channel. Layer menu -> Transparency -> Add Alpha channel

Then Image -> Canvas size (1) and set a new size to suit. Center the image in the new size (2) Set resize layers to all layers (3) Ok that and out.



Exporting. For a transparent border export to a png. Note using jpeg loses any transparency (replaced by current BG colour)

Another solution (possibly works in 2.8, too):

* Start the Crop tool, and tick the "Allow growing" , this uncovers the "Fill with" selector that you set to "Transparency".
* In your image window, make the crop shape outside the canvas (which is possible due to "Allow growing"):



* The transparency is added around the current image, there is no need to add an alpha channel:



* Export to some format that supports transparency of course.