How to restore the default toolbox windows in GIMP?

Question

I have recently installed GIMP 2.8.6 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64-bit and for the first time when I opened it, two windows along with the main window were available, but now I can only see a single main window. How can I bring those default windows back?

GIMP main window

score 150 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '14 at 15:25

Since you recently installed GIMP and closed the Toolbox window, I would suggest to reset your window preferences because it would also restore the dockable dialogs and the Layers windows which is extremly handy when working with GIMP.

Navigate through Edit menu → Preferences → Window Management → and click the button for Reset Saved Window Positions to Default Values. Then click Ok to close the Preferences dialog and restart GIMP.

GIMP Preferences dialog

I would also suggest to enable the single-window mode so that all these windows would be docked inside the GIMP's main window and ease the workflow when working with it. Enable it through Windows menu → Single-Window Mode.

score 20 · Answer 2 · answered May 05 '14 at 14:59

20

To open a new Toolbox, just hit Ctrl+b.

answered May 05 '14 at 14:59

Sylvain Pineau

63,229

score 9 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 11 '19 at 08:13

9

For GIMP 2.10, either:

Click TAB, or
Windows menu → untick 'Hide Docks'

edited Apr 11 '19 at 08:13

Simon Sudler

4,111

answered Apr 11 '19 at 04:32

Moo

91

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 25 '17 at 08:28

9

rm -r ~/.gimp-2.8

When gimp starts again it regenerates this directory, and you'll get gimp fresh and clean :)

edited Mar 25 '17 at 08:28

Zanna

72,312

answered Mar 25 '17 at 07:33

Radi Csaba

99

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 06 '20 at 15:34

2

I have also had the tools disappear, especially when working with email attachments other docs. A stray press of the Tab key makes the tools disappear/re-appear.

edited Dec 06 '20 at 15:34

Zanna

72,312

answered Aug 13 '18 at 20:01

DanT

21

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 11 '19 at 12:27

In increasing order of destructive power:

Just hit the Tab key (or use Windows>Hide docks), this toggles the visibility of existing dialogs
See if the dock is still listed in Windows>Recently closed docks>... and reopen it
Windows>Dockable dialogs>Toolbox to get a new one (or reopen the hidden one if it exists)
For the intrepid: edit the sessionrc file in your Gimp profile with a text editor and check the coordinates of the missing dock/dialog, it could be set off-screen (for instance if you used a second screen in the past). If so fix the coordinates. If you break things, see the next two steps.
Edit>Preferences>Windows management>Reset saved windows positions to default values
Erase the sessionrc file in your Gimp profile (this is normally the same as the previous item)
Erase/rename your Gimp profile to make Gimp recreate an all-defaults one. If you rename it you can later copy useful things (brushes, gradients and other assets you added yourself) from the old profile to the new. But this is pretty much the nuclear option, rarely useful for just a missing dialog.

How to restore the default toolbox windows in GIMP?

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