Usage

Exporting Layers

Open your image in GIMP and select File → Export Layers....

A dialog appears that allows you to adjust export settings, such as the output folder, filenames and the file extension.

Dialog of Export Layers

To export layers, simply press the Export button.

Below you will find more information on adjusting the export settings.

Changing Filenames

By default, layer names are used as filenames. The text entry next to Name lets you customize the filenames.

For details, see Adjusting Filenames.

Changing File Extension

Type or choose your desired file extension next to the filename entry (png by default).

The dropdown list displays available file formats alongside their associated file extensions. If a file format contains multiple file extensions, the first is selected by default, but you may also choose a different extension (by clicking on it or pressing Tab).

For now, the dropdown only contains a fixed list of file formats provided by GIMP and some recognized third-party plug-ins. However, you can still enter a file extension not in the list in case you use an unrecognized file format plug-in.

Export Options

For Export Layers, pressing the Options... button reveals additional export options.

The most important for you will likely be file format options (compression for PNG, image quality for JPG, etc.).

All options are described in Export Options.

If you need to adjust options for a file format not recognized by Batcher, set How to adjust file format options to Interactively. You will be prompted to set the file format options right after you press the Export button.

Procedures and Constraints

Before the export, you can apply a multitude of procedures to each layer, such as scaling or background insertion.

You can exclude layers from being exported based on one or more constraints, e.g. only visible layers or only group layers.

Procedures and constraints can be a powerful way to adjust the export to your heart’s content. You can take a look at a few examples to get started.

For details, see Procedures and Constraints.

Quick Export of Layers

If you made changes to your image and you want to export again with the same settings, or you need a simple export without customization, you can run File → Export Layers (Quick).

For the first time, a small dialog with only export settings is displayed, where you can adjust the basic export settings.

Dialog of Export Layers (Quick)

This dialog can be skipped by simply unchecking Show this dialog.

Note that even procedures and constraints set up in the Export Layers dialog will be applied for Export Layers (Quick), even if they are not shown.

Quick Export of Selected Layers

When you select multiple layers in GIMP, you can right-click and select Export Selected Layers to quickly export the selected layers.

In this case, any constraints set in the main dialog will be ignored.

Menu Entry for Export Selected Layers

Batch Editing Layers

Open your image in GIMP and select File → Edit Layers....

This is where you leverage the power of procedures and constraints. The procedures will be applied to each layer in the current image satisfying the chosen constraints. You can take a look at a few examples to get started.

Dialog of Edit Layers

If the Layers constraint is unchecked, group layers will also be processed. The group layers will be copied and inserted as regular layers to work around the fact that some procedures cannot be applied on group layers (e.g. gimp-drawable-brightness-contrast).

Quick Batch Layer Editing

You can run batch editing in a single click by running File → Edit Layers (Quick). This can be useful if you made changes to your image and you want to run batch editing again with the same settings.

Quick Batch Editing of Selected Layers

When you select multiple layers in GIMP, you can right-click and select Edit Selected Layers to quickly edit the selected layers.

In this case, any constraints set in the main dialog will be ignored.

Menu Entry for Edit Selected Layers

Preview

The preview displays the resulting layer names and the contents the selected layer.

You can adjust the width of the entire preview by dragging the separator at the left edge of the preview. You can also adjust the height of the previewed image by dragging the separator above the image.

If the previewed image takes too long to render, the preview is no longer updated automatically. A refresh button above the image is displayed that allows you to manually update the image. To switch between automatic and manual update, press the arrow button and select Update Image Preview Automatically.

Note that the preview is only an approximation of what the exported images will look like and thus is not completely accurate when exporting with certain file formats. For example, the preview will show a transparent image if the JPEG format (which does not support transparency) is selected.

Managing Settings

After a successful export or editing, your settings (output folder, file extension, dialog position and size, etc.) are automatically saved. You can save settings manually anytime by selecting Settings → Save Settings or pressing Ctrl + S anywhere in the dialog. To reset settings to their default values, select Settings → Reset Settings.

You may also save settings to a custom file by selecting Settings → Save Settings to File.... This allows swapping between different plug-in configurations or sharing them. To load settings from a file, select Settings → Load Settings from File... and select the file.

You can turn auto-closing the main dialog on/off by checking/unchecking Settings → Close when Done.

Known Issues

The export option Interactively is currently broken for many file formats due to a bug in GIMP 3.0.0-RC1. This will be fixed in GIMP 3.0.0-RC2.

If the How to adjust file format options export option is set to Interactively, and you press the Export button, it may seem as though nothing happens. In that case, the file format dialog may be displayed behind GIMP. If so, simply select the dialog in the taskbar to bring it up.

The following file formats require displaying a file format dialog for each image to be exported:

On Windows, exporting with the following file formats does not work properly if file paths contain accented (Unicode) characters: