| 6.27. Data Folders | ||
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6. Preferences Dialog |  |
| 6.27. Data Folders | ||
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6. Preferences Dialog | |
GIMP uses several types of resources – such as brushes, patterns, gradients, etc. – for which a basic set are supplied by GIMP when it is installed, and others can be created or downloaded by the user. For each such resource type, there is a Preference page that allows you to specify the search path: the set of directories from which items of the type in question are automatically loaded when GIMP starts. These pages all look very much the same: the page for brushes is shown above as an example.
By default, the search path consists of two folders: a system folder, where items that are included with GIMP are placed, and a personal folder, inside your personal GIMP directory, where items added by you should be placed. The system folder should not be marked as writable, and you should not try to alter its contents. The personal folder must be marked as writable or it is useless, because there is nothing inside it except what you put there.
GIMP uses the first writable folder in this list to find and save resources. You can customize the search path by using the buttons at the top of the dialog to move a folder up or down in the list.
Options
If you click on one of the folders in the list, it is selected for whatever action comes next.
If you type the name of a folder in the entry space, or navigate to
it using the file chooser button
on the right, and then click the left button, this will replace the
selected folder with the one you have specified. If nothing in the
list is selected, the folder will be added to the list.
The icon to the left of the text entry area will change when the folder you have specified does not exist. GIMP will not create it for you, so you should do this yourself. Depending on the icon-theme you use, the icon mentioned above will change from green to red, or from thumbs-up to thumbs-down, to notify you of a non-existent folder.
If you click on the up-arrow or down-arrow buttons, the selected folder will be changed to the following or preceding one in the list. Since the folders are read in order, using those buttons change the loading precedence of the items located in those folders.
If you click on the button that shows the trash-can or X icon, depending on the icon theme used, the selected folder will be deleted from the list. Note that the folder itself is not affected; it is merely removed from the search path. Deleting the system folder is probably a bad idea, but nothing prevents you from doing it.
