What are the most useful GIMP shortcuts?
Essential GIMP shortcuts include R for Rectangle Select, E for Ellipse Select, and M to move objects. Use Shift+C for the Crop tool, N for the Pencil, and Shift+E for the Eraser. Press T for the Text tool and O for the Color Picker. Common editing shortcuts are Ctrl+Z to undo, Ctrl+D to duplicate, and Delete to clear a selection. Press 1 to reset zoom to 100% and F11 to toggle fullscreen.
How do I work with selections in GIMP?
Press R for Rectangle Select or E for Ellipse Select to start a selection. Use F for the Free Selection (lasso) tool to draw custom shapes. Toggle the active selection on or off with Ctrl+T, or press Shift+Q to enable Quick Mask mode for painting selections. To fill a selection, use Ctrl+Comma for foreground color or Ctrl+Period for background color. Clear the current selection by pressing Delete.
How do I manage layers in GIMP?
Navigate between layers using Page Up to move to the next layer and Page Down to go to the previous layer. Create a new layer with Ctrl+Shift+N, and merge all visible layers with Ctrl+M. To open an image as a new layer, press Ctrl+Alt+O. You can also duplicate the current layer by selecting it and pressing Shift+Ctrl+D. Toggle the Layers panel visibility with Ctrl+L if it's accidentally closed.
GIMP keyboard shortcuts not working - how to fix?
If GIMP shortcuts aren't working, the most common issue is context-sensitivity. Make sure the image window is focused and you're not typing in a text layer or dialog box. GIMP can have conflicts with duplicate or legacy shortcuts — go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts to review and reset bindings to defaults if needed. On Mac, check that macOS system shortcuts in System Settings > Keyboard aren't overriding GIMP shortcuts. Restarting GIMP usually resolves temporary shortcut issues.
