You are presented with a standard dialog box that you can use to select your file.

Layered format is a special format used for loading and saving files that contain separate layers.  If you are using layers and want to keep them separate, without merging them, then use the layered format to save a copy of your file.

You can select the 'Preview' item to open an external application to view the file.  Whatever program that is associated with the file type by the operating system will be used to show it.

If you wish to list files of only a certain type, say Jpeg, then you can use Pattern Matching.  In it's basic form, it can be used like this...

Adding "*.jpg" to the filename control causes the dialog box to list only files with the extension ".jpg"

There are many other possibilities with pattern matching.  Suppose you want to list only files that begin with the letter B, use "B*".

The image browser lets you see thumbnail images of every supported file type, and it can be kept open while you work, so you can select files at any time.

The dropdown control at the top lets you select the device, such as hard disc or removable drive.

If you prefer the standard folder browser, or if you need to browse a network for your files, you can access it with the button.

You can select the types of files you want to see as thumbnails.  The default is Targa, but you can select a number of file types.  You can also type in a file type that is not shown, and if it is supported by the converter, it will be displayed.  For example, a number of Unix formats are supported that were left out of the list for simplicity.  You could type '*.SGI' to load a Silicon Graphics file.

You can also restart at a later time.

'Path to clipboard' copies the name and file path of the currently selected thumbnail to the systems clipboard.  You can then use it if you want to load the file with another application.

The save dialog box differs only slightly from the open dialog box.  Select Save from the file menu to save a file.

The difference, is now you want to manually select what file format you want to save.

The default format is Targa.  It is a widely used, lossless 32 bit format.  The image is saved as 3, 8 bit channels, red, green, and blue.  The fourth channel is an 8 bit alpha channel.  The alpha channel is used as a 'selection' in the program.  Alpha channels are often also used for transparency.

The Layered format is a proprietary format used when you want to save an image that contains multiple layers.

With Targa files, you have a lot of control as to how the image is stored in the file.  You can save all 32 bits of you image (8 bits of red, green, blue, and alpha) or you can save the image only, or just a single channel of greyscale.

8 bit (color) converts (quantizes) your image into a single 8 bit channel that uses a lookup table (lut) to decode color information.  This is commonly referred to as a color table.  The advantage of doing this, is the file size is cut by 1/3 or 1/4.  The disadvantage, is that color information is lost in going from 24 million colors down to 255.  on the other hand, the results can still be quite good, because not many images actually take advantage of all those colors.

8 bit (grayscale) drops the color information by averaging each channel into a grayscale image.  The file is then saved in 8 bites per pixel.  This can represent a nice savings in size if you do not need color.

24 bit color images are saved with the red, green, and blue channels, but not the alpha channel.

32 bit color images look exactly the same as 24 bit, but the alpha channel is saved along with them.

Jpeg (or jpg) is the format of the Joint Photographic Experts group.  It is a lossy format (meaning image data will be lost every time a file is saved or resaved.)  Compression ratios of 10 to 1 are not uncommon.  It is the preferred format for working with images for the web, because of the smaller file sizes.  The alpha channel is not supported in this format.  The jpeg baseline standard is supported, and you can set the quality using the panel that is opened.  Moving the slider to the right gives you a higher quality, at the expense of a larger file.  Values in the range of 60-90 are common.

PNG is a newer format, designed to be more flexible than older formats used on the web.  It supports various bit depths, and even the alpha channel, while offering good compression ratios.  Your files will be saved in 32 bit format.

PSD (Photoshop Document) format is supported in a baseline single layer.

Targa is also supported externally, as well as internally.  Use of the default targa saver is recommended.

Tiff, the Tagged Image File Format is a very flexible, form and chunk based format.  Just about any information can be stored in a tiff file, however it is presented here largely for loading and saving 32 bit images.