Make GIMP the Default External Editor in iPhoto

 

Apple's iPhoto has some really good editing tools, but sometimes you need the far more powerful tools available in GIMP. You can easily make GIMP the default editor for iPhoto images.

Open the iPhoto Preferences window and you'll see an option "Edit photo:".

The current selection is probably "In main window".

Click the arrow button and choose "In application…".

Choose GIMP in the Open dialog.

Now GIMP is the default editor for your iPhoto images. When you select a photo and click the Edit icon in the iPhoto tool bar, the image will be opened in GIMP.

If, like me, you don't want to launch GIMP for minor editing and adjustments, you can reset iPhoto to default to its internal editor when you click the Edit icon. Simply go back to the Preferences window and reset the "Edit photo:" option to "In main window".

However, if you Cmd-click or right-click on the photo to display its contextual menu, choosing "Edit in external editor" will still open the image in GIMP, giving you the best of both worlds!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

How to delete saved settings from Levels, etc.

This information applies to Mac OS X, GIMP 2.2

Sometimes while working on a project you may want to save the settings you used in a Levels or other dialog to use on other images in the project. When that project ends, you will probably want to delete those saved settings.

I found myself in this situation recently, but I was unable to find any documentation explaining how to delete these saved Levels settings. I was eventually able to determine these settings were stored in a folder in /home/.gimp-2.2. I then learned that since this folder name begins with a dot, it is hidden by OS X.

Next, I had to figure out how to access this hidden folder. I found the following scripts which run from the Terminal. Type this in the Terminal to show all hidden folders and files,

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

Then, open Finder from the Dock and navigate to the .gimp-2.2 folder. Open it and delete the saved profiles.

You'll likely want to restore file/folder hiding. Run the following,

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

A note of warning, be careful when modifying hidden things. Backup first.

Hopefully, future versions of GIMP will have a simpler way to delete these no longer needed files.