I try to delete a selected area from a png picture in GIMP 2.10.24 (using Ubuntu Linux). (I've done that countless times, and it always worked! I don't know what makes the current png different...)
When I select an area (in my case with the "Rectangle Select Tool") and hit delete, nothing happens.
I've searched for that problem, and in several posts and websites only two possible reasons are mentioned:
- Check that you do have an Alpha channel, add it if not. (
Layer > Transparency--> Then you'll see either add or remove alpha channel.) - Check that the alpha channel is not locked. (On the right where all layers are listed, above it you see "Locked:" with three symbols behind. Make sure they are not 'marked'. Marking is not clearly visible, it's just the background color that changes slightly.)
Anyway, none of these apply to me, so all should be right -- thus causing my frustration.^^ Therefore, can anybody please tell me:
- How to solve the problem so that selection + delete does work as always?
- What is causing that problem? Important info: After I posted this question [i.e., this is an edit done afterwards], I was again able to delete marked parts as I could do in the past thus proving that it's actually not a property of the png that causes this, but it's apparently just non-deterministic behavior of Gimp (as also indicated by the title of the stackoverflow post linked above). Still, 'something' should cause this. Any idea, what?
Here a partial workaround, inferred from a similar question, phrased as Gimp allows only sometimes to select and delete. The work-around solution is as follows:
- Just select the area you want to delete as usual. (That's the default first step anyway -- normally you would then just hit the delete button!)
- Instead of hitting delete, now hit
Select > Float. This causes the creation of a new layer consisting of only the selection. - Now hit the 'eye' of that layer causing it to become invisible (i.e., it's practically excluded from the current view thus 'deleting' it.)
- After that, just click outside the selection (or outside the 'canvas' I think; I mean the large surrounding gray area). This causes the new layer to disappear. Thus, the final result is now the same as if hitting delete would have worked right away. It's just much more complicated...
