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I have multiple layers open in GIMP. I would like to export a pdf that has each layer on a new page.

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3 Answers 3

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Gimp (2.10) does it already. No extra software or plugins needed.

  1. Import all images/pages as layers.
  2. Go to File → Export As → filename.pdf.
  3. After clicking Export As, a dialog will pop up asking to confirm save options. Select Layers as pages and Reverse the pages order.
  4. Click the Export button.

That's all! Enjoy.

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    Not only does GIMP do this built in, but it's even clever enough that if you want to have multiple layers make up a page e.g. a base image and various additional text layers - you can do this using layer groups and then with the 'Layers as pages' option, GIMP will export each layer group as a separate page!
    – ec2011
    Nov 6, 2019 at 1:53
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    The installed GIMP I have on Ubuntu 16.04 (GIMP 2.8.16) does not have this option.
    – user886869
    Nov 21, 2019 at 0:04
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    GIMP 2.8.18 does not have this option
    – Alessandro Jacopson
    Nov 24, 2019 at 9:41
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    No it doesn.t. Even after clicking on export, there is no such am option
    – Merc
    Mar 21, 2021 at 9:46
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    Sorry using Gimp 2.8.22 still has not the "export layers as pages" option. In fact, I did not start importing a pdf but had separate images from photographing a multipage document with a smartphone. So I opened those separately and pasted all together into one stack of layers. The export as mng and the convert did the job for me (see next answer).
    – kcbehler
    Apr 30, 2021 at 13:47
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GIMP (prior to 2.10) can't do this directly.

You need to use an intermediate file format.

Prerequisites

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

Steps

  1. Export from GIMP as an MNG animation: File → Export → document.mng

  2. Convert to PDF on the terminal:

    convert -reverse document.mng document.pdf
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    Nice tweak for not having to reorder the layers from how they come in from a pdf in the import.
    – Max Williams
    Jun 27, 2018 at 15:07
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    Gimp 2.10 can do this, see @mjoao 's answer
    – Barun
    Jan 1, 2019 at 12:08
  • -reverse also needs a new version of convert; 1.3.23 does not do that.
    – jjmerelo
    Aug 29, 2020 at 8:39
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    On Ubuntu, if you get "not authorized" see accepted answer here: askubuntu.com/questions/1081895/…
    – Dagelf
    Sep 3, 2020 at 8:44
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There is a Gimp plugin that does this nicely.

http://registry.gimp.org/node/27987

The install path and how to change the permissions are covered in this blog post: https://www.zyxware.com/articles/4438/how-to-export-multiple-layers-from-gimp-into-a-pdf-file

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