Undo Flattening

[plugas]

Hi all

When I create an image made up of multiple layers then save it as a JPG, the image must be flattened,

but a notification box pops up (see attached image) that states:

"The image will be flattened, and then saved. You will be able to undo the flatten operation after saving is finished."

But if I go to that JPG file later I simply cannot find how to undo the flattening..!!

Any help appreciated!

 

[BoltBait]

The dialog box means that you can immediately undo the flattening. That is, save your file as jpg, then press Ctrl-Z to undo the flatten.

You can not go back to a saved jpg file and undo the flatten from there. Sorry if this was confusing to you.

[NinthDesertDude]

I'm guessing you're trying to load the JPG file after saving it. The JPG itself will not store history like that. The message means you can press control + z at the same time to undo the flattening as long as you don't close or switch images. It's Paint.NET itself that stores the history of your work, and that history is discarded in all saved files to conserve space.

 

If you need to keep both the JPG and the separated image with layers, first save as JPG, then without doing anything else, use control + Z to undo the flattening. Now save as a pdn file to keep all the layers separately.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

I always save as pdn first, then I save to other formats. As long as you have your pdn version of a picture or project, you can always make edits and then flatten and save in as many other formats as you want.

[LiDestiny]

Save as a GIF File Instead of JPEG it supports transparency, hope this helps all the best Lee