After long searching for a program that would allow you to edit your photos, you were advised to try GIMP, which many have described to you as the best free alternative to expensive Photoshop. Trusting what you have been told and, above all, enticed by the possibility of having this software at no cost, you have decided to download and install it on your computer and test its functionality. Unfortunately, however, being still a beginner with the computer world, you were unable to understand how to download. I guessed it, right? Then I don’t see where the problem is: if you want, I’m here to help you.
In fact, if you dedicate a few minutes of your free time to me, I can explain how to download GIMP from the program’s official website and how to install it on your computer. First, I’ll tell you how to download the software, and then I’ll give you the detailed steps to install it on Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu. Finally, I’ll link to the official GIMP manual and a series of guides that will help you get started with this popular photo editing program.
Are you looking forward to learning more about the topic? Very good! Let’s not delay any longer and immediately take action. Make yourself comfortable and read the following carefully. Identify the procedure of your interest, follow it step-by-step and I assure you that in no time you will be finished. I wish you a very big good luck for everything!
Index
- Preliminary information
- How to download GIMP for Windows 10
- How to download GIMP for Mac
- How to install GIMP on Ubuntu
- How to use GIMP
Preliminary information
Before getting to the heart of the tutorial, going to explain how to download GIMP , there is some preliminary information , in this regard, which is my duty to provide you. What I am referring to, to be precise, are the minimum requirements and the devices supported by the program.
GIMP (acronym for Gnu Image Manipulation Program ) is a freely distributed open source software for Windows (it is compatible with Windows 7 and above), macOS (it is compatible with macOS 10.12 Sierra and above) and Linux .
The GIMP guidelines do not specify what are the minimum requirements required by the program, however during the installation it is possible to view the free disk space required by the software which, by installing all the add-ons, does not exceed 900 MB.
How to download GIMP for Windows 10
At this point, I would say that we can get down to business and find out how to download GIMP for Windows 10 , as well as the previous and later versions of the operating system that are supported. This is a fairly simple procedure that takes a few moments. You can either directly download the GIMP installation file or the Torrent file that allows you to get the program from the BitTorrent network using one of the special clients.
In both cases, to download GIMP for free , first connect to the home page of the GIMP site , then click on the Download item in the top menu, then make sure that the wording GIMP for Windows is shown at the top of the new screen displayed (if not, to fix it, click on the Microsoft Windows link next to Show downloads for ).
Now, if you want to start downloading the software installation file, click the Download GIMP [version] directly button and wait for the process to complete.
Instead, if you want to download the GIMP Torrent file, click on the Download GIMP [version] via BitTorrent button and when the download is complete double click on the gimp- [version] – setup.exe.torrent file to automatically add it to the program you usually use for download from the Internet. If you have not yet installed one on your computer, read my review dedicated to software belonging to the aforementioned category to identify what you think can do the most for you.
Once the GIMP download is complete, both from the official website and from the BitTorrent network, double-click on the gimp- [version] -setup-1.exe file to start the installation. In the new window open, decide whether to install the program for all users or only for the current one and click on the Yes button to consent to the program to make changes to the computer, then make sure that in the drop-down menu to select the language to use during the installation is selected Italian , in order to be able to carry out the procedure to download GIMP for free in Italian , and click on the OK button .
Now, press the Install button to start the installation automatically, while if you want to read the license agreement, choose the installation folder and select the components to install, click the Customize button . After reading the license agreement, click on the Next button , then click on the Browse button , specify the folder in which you want to install GIMP and click on the Next button again .
In the Select Components screen , click on each individual component ( Translations , MyPaint Brushes , Debug Symbols , etc.) to display its function in the Description field , then place the check mark next to the components you want to install together with GIMP, checking the space necessary for the installation which is indicated (and which varies according to the added components) below. As an alternative to Custom Installation , you can set up Full Installation to install all components or Compact Installation which installs only the GIMP and run-time libraries used by the software.
Once you have chosen the type of installation and the components of your interest, click the Next button and, in the Select file associations screen , put the check mark next to the files you want to associate and open with GIMP and click the Next button again . Finally, put the check mark next to the item Create a desktop icon to add a quick shortcut to GIMP on the desktop and click on the Next and Install buttons to start the installation.
Wait, therefore, for the green installation progress bar to reach 100% and press the Finish button to close the window and complete the setup.
I point out that on Windows 10 and later you can download GIMP as well from the Microsoft Store , by visiting the relevant section directly from your computer and pressing the Install button and, once the download and installation process is complete, on the Open one to start the application.
Furthermore, if you deem it necessary, you can download a previous version of the software , by selecting the appropriate links under the heading Older Downloads on the GIMP download page and clicking on the link relating to the file you want to download from the next screen, ordering them if necessary first by date, by clicking on the Date column .
How to download GIMP for Mac
If, on the other hand, you have an Apple-branded computer and, therefore, you are wondering how to download GIMP for Mac , I inform you that even in this case the procedure to follow is quite simple and that you can decide whether to download the file directly. installation of the program or the Torrent file that allows you to get GIMP then using special Torrent clients.
To download GIMP on your Mac, first connect to the official website of the program and click on the Download item in the top menu. In the new open page, make sure that the wording GIMP for macOS is shown at the top (if not, to solve, click on the macOS link that you find in the Show downloads for item ).
At this point, if you prefer to download GIMP directly, press the Download GIMP [version] directly button .
Instead, if you prefer to download the GIMP Torrent file, click the Download GIMP [version] via BitTorrent button . Then, open the Torrent file obtained with a program to download files from the BitTorrent network (eg qBitTorrent ) and wait for the download to complete.
If after clicking on one of the two buttons indicated above, the message There is no macOS package yet, sorry. Please check back later , it means the latest version of GIMP is not yet available for macOS. In this case, scroll down the page and locate the Older Downloads item , then click on the link next to the Previous installers for macOS / OSX can be found here option to access the list of previous versions of the software.
In the newly opened page, click on the Dates column to sort the files by the date they were last modified and thus locate the oldest version of GIMP. Then select the link gimp- [version] -x86_64.dmg to find the direct installation file or the gimp-2.8.22-x86_64.dmg.torrent to download GIMP from the Torrent Network and wait for the download of an older version of GIMP.
Once the GIMP download is complete, in all cases, open the gimp- [version] -x86_64.dmg file you just downloaded, drag the program icon to the MacOS Applications folder and open it. Next, right-click on the GIMP icon and select the Open item to start the program for the first time, avoiding the macOS restrictions for applications from non-certified developers (this must be done only at the first start).
How to install GIMP on Ubuntu
As for the possibility of downloading and installing GIMP on Ubuntu , I inform you that the less updated versions of this famous Linux distro have included it “as standard” , but on the most recent ones or in any case if removed it is possible to proceed from the command line .
So, first connect to the GIMP website and click on the Download menu located at the top. In the new page shown, make sure that the wording GIMP for Unix-like systems is shown at the top of the new screen displayed (if not, to work around, select the GNU / Linux link that you find in the Show downloads for item ) .
Then, press the Install GIMP flatpak button and wait for the org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref file to be started and completed .
At this point, open the Terminal via the Ubuntu Launchpad , enter the command flatpak install https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakreffollowed by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard, press the Y key on the keyboard, type the password of your user account, press the Y key two more times and wait the completion of the installation process.
If on Ubuntu you have not installed the Flatpak package management utility that allows you to install GIMP, first do this by issuing the command in the Terminal sudo apt install flatpak.
How to use GIMP
After downloading GIMP on your computer and after installing it, you are finally ready to be able to use it to manipulate photos and images. If you have never used a graphics program and are a beginner with this type of software, you may initially be blown away by its graphics and its many features.
For this reason, to understand how to use GIMP , it will be useful to consult the official manual of the program that you can find on its official website. Connect, therefore, to the main page of the GIMP site and click on the Docs item in the top menu, then scroll down the page and select the Italian option to access the GIMP User Manual in Italian.
In addition to the official software guide, you can read my tutorial on how to use GIMP to learn the basic features of the famous photo editing program. After having mastered its operation and the various panels, you can learn more by reading my other guides dedicated to GIMP: how to edit photos with GIMP , how to clone with GIMP , how to animate images with GIMP , how to resize a image with GIMP , how to create a logo with GIMP , how to overlay photos with GIMP , how to sign photos with GIMP and how to blend with GIM
