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## 15. Buffers dialog

The Buffers dialog

Le dialogue des tampons

Buffers are temporary repositories for image data, created when you cut or copy part of a drawable (a layer, layer mask, etc.). When you use Edit->Copy or Edit->Cut, the data go into the Global Buffer. When you use Edit->Buffer->Copy Named or Edit->Buffer->Cut Named, a dialog pops up asking you to name a buffer to store the data in. There is no hard limit on the number of named buffers you can create, although, of course, each one consumes a share of memory.

The Buffers dialog shows you the contents of all existing named buffers, and allows you to operate on them in several ways. It also shows you, at the top, the contents of the Global Buffer, but this is merely a display: you can't do anything with it.

The Buffers dialog is a dockable dialog; see the section on Dialogs and Docking for help on manipulating it. It can be activated in several ways:

- From the Toolbox menu: File->Dialogs->Buffer.

- From an image menu: Dialogs->Buffer.

- From the Tab menu in any dockable dialog: Add Tab->Buffer.

| Caution
Named buffers are not saved across sessions. The only way to save their contents is to paste them into images.

### Grid/List modes

The Buffers dialog (Grid View)

In the Tab menu for the Buffers dialog, you can choose between View as Grid and View as List. In Grid mode, the buffers are laid out in a rectangular array. In List mode, they are lined up vertically, with each row showing a preview of the contents of the buffer, its name, and its pixel dimensions.

### Using the Buffers dialog

The Buffers Menu

Clicking on a buffer in the display area makes it the active buffer, i. e., the one that will be used for paste commands executed with the Buffers Menu or the buttons at the bottom of the dialog. Double-clicking on a buffer causes its contents to be pasted to the active image; this is a quick way of executing the "Paste Buffer" command.

At the bottom of the dialog are four buttons. The operations they perform can also be accessed from the Buffers Menu, and from the Edit->Buffer submenu in the image menu.

- Paste Buffer. This command pastes the contents of the selected buffer into the active image, as a floating selection. The only difference between this and the ordinary Paste command is that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global clipboard buffer.

- Paste Buffer Into. This command pastes the contents of the selected buffer into the active image's selection, as a floating selection. The only difference between this and the ordinary Paste Into command is that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global clipboard buffer.

- Paste Buffer as New. This command creates a new single-layer image out of the contents of the selected buffer. The only difference between this and the ordinary Paste as New command is that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global clipboard buffer.

- Delete Buffer. This command deletes the selected named buffer, no questions asked. You cannot delete the Global Buffer.

| Note
You can change the size of the buffer previews in the dialog using the "Preview Size" submenu of the dialog's Tab menu.

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