As someone more familiar with 2.0+ version, are GIMP versions 3.0+ easier to use now?

[u/7akyr]

I first used version 2.8 then 2.10 for like 5 years and really liked the functions, selection, tools and stuff. When GIMP release version 3.0, I tested it and it was pretty different with the things I'm familiar with (mainly about the selection area, layer, fill area,...) I don't want to redo the dreaded learning curve again so I just switch back to 2.10 till this day lol

As I understand the newest version now is 3.2, so does it more easier to use now? Thanks

[u/SVlad_667]

It mostly the same Gimp, but with multilayer selection and functional filters.

[u/Stratelier]

Compared to 2.10, these are perhaps the biggest changes:

• "Paste" pastes as a new layer by default, not a floating layer. This chiefly means you must switch to the "Move" tool before trying to move the pasted layer.
• most filters can be applied nondestructively (or "live") to a layer, and this is the general default. This is useful because you can quickly change the filter's settings (without needing to Undo it first), or edit the layer in its original form and the filter will update to the results automatically, BUT it's also extremely easy to forget about (then wonder why X tool isn't operating as expected). To be aware of this, (1) look for a toggle called "Merge Filter" when performing the filter (off = live filter; on = same as GIMP 2.10), and (2) look for an "Fx" icon appearing by any layer in the stack, which indicates the presence of live filters (you can click it for options).

[u/CMYK-Student → u/Stratelier]

Note that if you prefer the 2.10 copy and paste behavior, you can switch back to it. Go to Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts, search for "Paste Floating Data", and change the keyboard shortcut to Ctrl + V.

[u/MadDantheMillWright]

I'll say as someone who never used Photoshop or anything only really ever used microsoft paint it's very difficult at times. The biggest thing Im starting to learn is you have to select something first with one of the select tools or you basically can't do anything. You can't just draw or move or bucket fill things. You have to select the area so that it's highlighted and then when you say draw with the pencil only the highlighted area will respond to your pencil and nothing outside it or next to it will. 2 figure out the layer system. I still suck at this lol. But the layer system has made more sense I guess. I often will make new tabs as well to sort of assemble things in layers in a new tab I dunno I find this a bit easier. Oh and I don't know why but edit fill seems to be a better version of the bucket.

[u/Stratelier → u/MadDantheMillWright]

You certainly CAN use tools without a selection (in the case of Bucket Fill, you just set its fill mode to "similar colors"), but in advanced uses, making a selection often is important to avoid affecting unwanted areas with a given tool.

[u/LQNova]

I hate 3.0

[u/ConversationWinter46 → u/LQNova]

After more than 20 years and numerous version updates, I switched from 2.10.38 to 3.0 in March 2025. It took me about 6 months to get used to it.

Since I use Manjaro KDE, which has supported Wayland for over a year. GIMP has also supported Wayland since version 3.0 and performs much better as a result.

[u/nicubunu → u/LQNova]

Why? My only issue with 3.x is performance, but it seems better with each subsequent release.

[u/cjdubais]

Negative. 

Lots has changed.

Combine that with little in the way of instructional material and it's a real problem. 

I'm thinking of going back to 2.10.

Good luck.

[u/CMYK-Student → u/cjdubais]

If it helps, we have a manual (recently updated for 3.2): https://docs.gimp.org/3.2/en/

If there's additional information that would be helpful, we're happy to update.

[u/Finding_Footprints → u/CMYK-Student]

Is there an option to turn off the changing values using mouse scroll-wheel? It is good, but most of the times, I accidentally hover over a property and now the value has changed. I adjust a little and another property gets changed.

[u/CMYK-Student → u/Finding_Footprints]

I think that's a GTK3 thing - we'd have to fight the GUI library to change it. Not saying that we couldn't, but we'd probably look into alternate designs first to see if we can solve that problem some other way.

[u/Finding_Footprints → u/CMYK-Student]

If possible, I would request to change it or introduce some alternative, because it can become annoying if during the scroll, something gets changes and I fail to notice what has changed. Hopefully, maybe a better solution is around the corner.

[u/Stratelier → u/Finding_Footprints]

There's also the matter that if you are scrolling a dockable window (like a long list of Tool Options), the moment a widget scrolls under the cursor, the scrolling gets "eaten" by that widget and the window as a whole stops scrolling -- VERY annoying, yes, but also not an easy thing to fix.

@CMYK-Student I think what GIMP's missing here is the scrollwheel version of a "seat grab" so that when one widget (like a GtkScrolledWindow) starts receiving a mousewheel action, no other widget can receive any mousewheels until the user stops scrolling (however that's detected/decided).

Desktop Firefox has something like this, where consecutive scrollwheel events (within some time interval) will always get sent to whichever widget received the first one. If the user does anything else while scrolling (like clicking or moving the mouse) this breaks the first widget's grab.

[u/Finding_Footprints → u/Stratelier]

Yeah I second this, it is really annoying when I am not paying attention and some value gets changed and I don't even notice which value has changed!

[u/Stratelier → u/cjdubais]

Lots has changed.

Can you be more specific, e.g. name just one thing?

• The default UI layout is basically the same
• The tools have barely changed any
• The menu structure is almost identical

[u/cjdubais → u/Stratelier]

All true.

But the functionality of a lot of the tools I use has changed. I don't use it every day, so I really can't provide a specific instance.

[u/Stratelier → u/cjdubais]

Well the Align & Distribute tool (for one) definitely changed in 3.0 and not entirely for the better, but that's about all I can name offhand.

The Move and Select tools did not change at all, but the default Paste did: namely, you can't use a Select tool to move a pasted proper layer, only a floating layer (which was the default paste in 2.10 but not 3.0).