: Why can't the GIMP align tool select some layers? When I try to align various layers in GIMP 2.8, sometimes the align tool selects the entire image, not the layer I clicked on. It doesn't

@Miguel516

I had this issue too. All you need to do is make sure none is selected then click the actual layer on the image "not the layers box" then select your alignment.

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@Kevin459

This is still not fixed in 2.8.22. I finally managed to align all of my layers by aligning the top one, hiding it, then doing the next one down. It is a very tedious process if you have a lot of layers (fortunately I only had 6), but at least I got it done.

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@BetL875

In Gimp 2.8 when you use Align tool and try to click on an Layer from a Layer Group then the entire image is selected instead of clicked layer. Probably when the Layer Group feature was implemented this detail was forgotten.

As a workaround temporary move your layers outside of the layer group, align them, move them back in the layer group.

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@Looi7658678

I had been having this problem FOREVER and I just found a solution, even though the person I was talking to about the move tool made me actually figure out the problem.

The alignment tool is selecting the top most layer where ever you click, regardless of what layer you have selected/transparencies. Try hiding the layers above what you are trying to work on, or move it to the top, use the tool, then move it back down.

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@BetL875

I personally find the align tool to be very little intuitive. I cannot reproduce your scenario, and the only thing I could imagine for the behavior you describe is
if your target layer would have a lot of transparent detail, and would be hard to
click on it (like in a layer with text with a small font). However, clicking repeatedly on the layer position could fix that - so I don't think that is your case.

Otherwise, what you are describing is just a bug in the program, that should be reported on the bugzilla.gnome.org tool, so that GIMP developers could know about it and fix in a comming release.

However, if you detail your use cases for the tool, I can try to come up with a script that would be useful for you right now, apart from the align tool. Such a script would require one to pick layers on the layer dialog, instead directly on the canvas, but it would work.

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