GIMP Version: 2.10.24
Operating System: Linux
OS Version: Manjaro KDE Plasma version 20-sumthin'
GIMP Experience: Intermediate Level

List any relevant plug-ins or scripts:
Export function

List any ERROR messages you received:
Destroyed image

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I destroyed about two hours worth of layer work due to this export-image-keep-the-original-open silliness. I can no longer go back to the original layers, since the image was flattened as part of my workflow of exporting it.

So, is there a way to restore the way it used to be, when you saved an image you continued to work on that, and not the original?

Anyway, I hope this GIMP "feature" affects many, many more people so we hopefully can get rid of it. It is a really, really bad idea!

Until something better turns up, I am going to remove the keyboard shortcut for Ctrl-S, or maybe redirect it to "save as." It suddenly has become EXTREMELY dangerous.

I'm off to recreate the image with layers. Some of it was made in Krita, so this could maybe be used if I save the layers to separate files, but everything I made in GIMP is gone. Not a fun day... Hope I can remember all the steps involved. ((

Uh? The export/save distinction was introduced because people would "save" to JPEG, exit, and then discover that their layers were gone. "How to I get back my layers (and paths, and masks...)?" was a fairly common question on Gimp forums before Gimp 2.8.

Your workflow is unusual because normally you don't need to flatten an image before exporting it, the flattening is implicit when exporting to flat formats.

When you fear that you could overwrite the original (XCF or just opened flat image), use `Image>Duplicate`, close the original and work on the copy. The copy loses all the link to the original image, so you cannot overwrite it by accident.

"export-image-keep-the-original-open silliness" ??
All software I am aware of when you export an image, this very image stays open! I do need to close it manually or close the software, it would make no sense to close an image when exporting.

If flattening is a part of your workflow when you export, don't blame GIMP.
(why some one would flatten a bunch of hard worked layers, in first place?)



Wishing bad things to other people, that is not nice!
Happily we love this feature.



A quick search on Google "Export file" 2 first links

Most computer programs have their own way of organizing and encoding data into the files they save. They can recognize their own files but not files from another program. To export a file, the computer has to save data in a format that another program will recognize. The programmers must build this capability into the program itself, so programs are able to export in some file formats and not in others. https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what ... ort-a-file

In a personal computer application, to export is to convert a file into another format than the one it is currently in. Once the file is exported to the desired format (specified in its file name suffix), it can be opened and worked on by an application that recognizes and uses this format. Adobe Photoshop and other programs use this term https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/export

BTW Adobe Photoshop has recently "hardened" it's "export jpg", trying to be foolproof, so on youtube you have a lot of PS channels complaining that to export as jpg it's now kind of "hidden" but we know all that a common mistake that people like designer or engineer make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

I would recommend a simple mnemotechnic to not make a mistake anymore
What's the native file format of GIMP? it's XCF, so I save or save as... .xcf
Everything else are "foreign" format, so I export or export as...

Strangely enough Krita is an exception and quite confusing the very first time(although the window is nicely made), but if I make a mistake in Krita I'll blame myself to not have RTFM, not the software...

By the way [save] is the name of the image.

There is the old saying, backup and backup frequently.

There have been requests to the Gimp devs for an automatic back, much the same as word processing applications. It might come sometime in later Gimp 3

There are backup plugins for Gimp, attached what I consider a reasonable one. It will save x number backup files, and rotate through those. Old but still works with linux (at least my kubuntu) and Win 10 / Gimp 2.10.24 looks like this.

sallyanne: The problem is that it keeps the file open as the original xcf, so if you hit Ctrl-S in the heat of the moment, you're done. No warnings, nothing. It has nothing to do with my closing the file, but that it was overwritten by mistake, one that should not have happened if GIMP behaved normally. Think what this would be like in other programs, if they all behaved in the same manner.
If I export something (that's "Save as" in most other programs, which leave the original untouched as it is simply closed) as a new file that needs to have only one layer, I expect to be able to continue working with that version, not to stay in the old one and having to close that and open the exported file to continue my work on that single layer. That saves me time, but I guess I'm one of the few who appreciates having more time, not less.
The way it's done now is not good, there should at the very least be an option, like a checkbox in the options to opt for closing the xcf and continue with the exported image.
So I have turned off Ctrl-S and am thinking about changing that to Save a copy, to get at least some warning signs.
rich20005: thanks for this, I'll investigate.
The reason for flattening has, for one, to do with making minor adjustments to the final image. Adjusting drawing mistakes around some edges (back in Krita, since its drawing engine IMO is superior to GIMP's, but GIMP has other features I want to access), but I really don't feel I have to explain myself why I do what I do. It should suffice to say that this is the process that works for me!
Okay, I'm done. I will not comment on this again. Thanks.

I don't know what programs you use, but major players like Word, Excel, Notepad++... behave like this.



Now we are talking. Instead of flattening the image, which is dangerous (something could screw up the undo stack...), do "Layer > New from visible". The "new from visible" layer has the contents of the flattened image, but the image is not flattened, you still have all your layers under that new layer.



You don't, but it often helps.

The problem is that people think they have to put Ctrl-S on export instead of leaving it as it was.
So it's your own decision to 'reconfigure' GIMP and you should know what you're doing.
This would not have happened to you if you left GIMP as it was.
But some people seem to know better....
Don't blame GIMP then.