File menu

The file menu provides access to open, acquire, and save images in Paint.NET. These options behave similarly to other document and image editing programs.

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• New

  This allows you to create a new, blank image. The default size is 800 x 600, or the size of any image that has been copied to the clipboard. The following dialog is displayed when you click on this menu item. You may use the "Maintain aspect ratio" checkbox to enforce that the ratio between width and height remains the same. The new size of the image is also displayed at the top of the dialog box; this can be used to determine how much memory the image will use, but may not reflect how large it will be when you save it to disk (it will usually be smaller).

  

• Open

  This allows you to open an image, which will close the current image you're working on. It works the same as the Open facility in just about any other document-oriented application.

• Open Recent

  Illustrated above, the Open Recent menu allows you to quickly access the last 8 images you have opened with Paint.NET. Each image is accompanied by a thumbnail to help you quickly located it visually. There is also a command, "Clear this list," that allows you to quickly clear the list.

• Acquire

  This submenu contains one item: From Scanner or Camera. These allow you to create a new image that is acquired from either a scanner or camera attached to your computer. The scanner or camera must support Windows Image Acquisition 2.0 (WIA).

  

• Close

  This closes the active image. If you have made changes that have not been saved, you will be asked for confirmation before saving:
  

• Save

  This command saves the image with the current filename. If you have not saved the image before, and if the file type you are saving as requires configuration (GIF, TGA, and JPEG), then you will be presented with the Save Configuration dialog. Also, if you have not yet named your image (that is, if it's still called "Untitled"), you'll need to give it a name.

  For JPEG images, you will be presented with the ability to configure the quality of the image. For GIF images, you may configure how transparency and dithering are handled. Lastly, TGA images may be configured to save at 24- or 32-bit, and with or without RLE compression enabled.

  The dialog shows a preview of how the image will appear when loaded in another application (or in Paint.NET) after it is saved. The file size is shown below the preview. You may use the configuration settings to help you optimize quality vs. file size.

  

• Save As

  Normally when you use the standard Save command it will reuse the filename and settings that were given before. The Save As command allows you to specify a new name and, if applicable, new settings.

• Print

  This allows you to print your image using the built-in Windows Photo Printing user interface. It presents a simple wizard-based interface that will guide you through the printing process.

  In Windows Vista, the Print interface will look like this:

  

• Exit

  Use this to exit Paint.NET. You will be asked to save your changes if you have not done so. If you have many images that have unsaved changes, you will be asked for confirmation first.