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Revision Date: 27 February 2024

File Menu

The File menu contains commands to open, acquire, close, save and print images with paint.net. These options behave similarly to other document authoring and image editing programs.

File Menu
File Menu

File New icon New

This creates a new, blank, single layered image. The single layer will be filled with white.

The default canvas size is 800 x 600 pixels scaled by the system DPI setting, or the size of any image contained in the clipboard.

The keyboard shortcut for File » New is Ctrl + N.

This dialog is displayed when File » New is invoked.

New
New Image dialog

The ☑ Maintain aspect ratio checkbox locks the ratio between width and height so that it remains the same as the current image, selection or the clipboard image.

An estimate of the image size is displayed at the top of the dialog. This can be used to approximate how much memory paint.net will require to open the image.  Adding new layers will increase this memory overhead. The saved size of the image will usually be less than the new image size. This is because compression is used by most file formats.

The Pixel size, Resolution and Print size can be altered from within the dialog. Changing one set of parameters affects the other set of parameters as Resolution is used to convert Pixel size to Print size and vice versa.

Changing the Units recalculates the Pixel size, Resolution and Print size to use the new units. No actual changes to the image are made when the Units are changed.

File Open icon Open

This allows you to open an existing image for editing. The default list of supported file types is shown below.  The opened image will be added to the image list and displayed in the Editing Window.

The keyboard shortcut for File » Open is Ctrl + O.

Supported File Formats

Format Extension(s) Note
paint.net*.pdn
PNG*.png
JPEG*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe, *.jfif, *.exif
JPEG XR*.jxr, *.wdp, *.wmp
Bitmap*.bmp, *.dib, *.rle
GIF*.gif
TGA*.tga
Direct Draw Surface*.dds
TIFF*.tif, *.tiff
HEIC*.heicRequires Microsoft HEVC Video Extensions.
Webp*.webpMaximum image dimensions 16383 x 16383 pixels
AV1*.avif

Tip

Did you know you can open an image straight from the internet?  Right click on an image in your browser and choose the option to "Copy Image Location".  In the Open File dialog (Ctrl + O or File > Open), click in the File Name text box and paste the copied URL (Ctrl +V). Then click Open.

File > Open > URL
Opening an image from a URL

Note: Use File > Save As... to save changes to the image as you won't be able to save back to the original URL.
 

Open Recent

Illustrated above, Open Recent sub-menu allows quick access to the last ten images opened with paint.net. Each image is accompanied by a thumbnail to help with identification.

Open Recent file list
Open Recent

There is a command to Clear this list in the Open Recent sub-menu.  This removes all entries from the Open Recent list which can be useful if the image directory has been changed or renamed.

If the cursor is hovered over any of the images in the Recent File list, the path to the file is shown as a tooltip.

Open Recent > tooltip showing path to file
Open Recent > tooltip showing path to file

Acquire

This sub-menu contains one item: From Scanner or Camera. This allows a new image to be acquired from either a scanner or camera attached to the computer. The scanner or camera must support Windows Image Acquisition 2.0 (WIA).

Acquire
Acquire

File Save icon Save

The keyboard shortcut for File » Save is Ctrl + S.

This command saves the image with the current filename. If the image has not been previously saved, or if the file type specified requires configuration (PNG, BMP, GIF, TGA or JPEG but not PDN or TIF), then the Save Configuration dialog will be presented. If the image is unnamed (that is, if it's still called "Untitled"), a filename will need to be supplied.

When saving JPEG images, the quality of the image can be configured. For GIF images, transparency and dithering options are presented. TGA images may be configured to save at 24 or 32-bit, and with or without RLE compression.

The dialog below shows a preview of how the image will appear when loaded with another application (or paint.net). The file size is shown above the preview. The configurable options help optimize quality vs. file size.

Save Configuration
Save dialog

Tip

The Auto setting is used to ensure an image is saved to the smallest file size that does not incur any loss of information or clarity.

Paint.net first determines at which bit depths the image can be saved at without fidelity loss, then the image is saved at the setting which results in the smallest file size.

Supported File Formats

Format Extension(s) Note
paint.net*.pdn
PNG*.png
JPEG*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe, *.jfif, *.exif
JPEG XR*.jxr, *.wdp, *.wmp
Bitmap*.bmp, *.dib, *.rle
GIF*.gif
TGA*.tga
Direct Draw Surface*.dds
TIFF*.tif, *.tiff
HEIC*.heicRequires Microsoft HEVC Video Extensions.
Webp*.webpMaximum image dimensions 16383 x 16383 pixels
AV1*.avif

File Save As icon Save As

The keyboard shortcut for File » Save As... is Ctrl + Shift + S.

When using the File » Save command the filename, format location and settings previously specified will be reused to overwrite the existing image. The File » Save As... command allows a new name, format, location and settings to be applied. This is extremely useful to create a copy of an edited image while retaining the untouched original.

File Save All icon Save All

File » Save All saves each image that has been modified since it was opened. The existing filename, path, format and settings will be reused (where possible) to overwrite the existing image.

Where changes render the existing format unusable (like adding a layer to a JPG), a configuration dialog or warning prompt will appear.

The keyboard shortcut for File » Save All is Ctrl + Alt + S.

Note

File » Save All is disabled if there is nothing to be saved (no images have unsaved changes).

File Print icon Print

This command opens the built-in Windows Photo Printing interface so the image can be sent to an attached printer. The Printing Interface presents a simple wizard-based dialog to guide users through the printing process.

Print
Print

The keyboard shortcut for File » Print is Ctrl + P.

File Close icon Close

This closes the current image. If there are unsaved changes, a prompt will appear asking for confirmation before the closure proceeds.

Unsaved Changes
Unsaved Changes

The keyboard shortcut for File » Close is Ctrl + W.

File Exit icon Exit

Use this to exit (close) paint.net. If unsaved changes have been made, a prompt will appear giving the option to save the image(s)before the application exits.

Unsaved Changes on Exit
Unsaved Changes