While trying to invoke a preset filter I get a flash on the screen that is probably an error message. (The filter apparently doesn't get applied.) For instance, if I have some text selected and click on Filters and then click on one of the preset filters something pops onto my display.

I'd like to slow that message long enough to read it. How is that done?

Inkscape 0.47 running under Windows XP

Can you check that the filter isn't beeing applied (Filter->Filter Editor). Before applying a filter there should be no entries, afterwards one should be listed.

I think the popup message isn't an error message but more like "Effect working...", except for filters this box is blank, and since it hardly takes any time to apply a filter, the popup disappears before you have a chance to see this.

tomh wrote:I think the popup message isn't an error message but more like "Effect working...", ... since it hardly takes any time to apply a filter, the popup disappears before you have a chance to see this.

I think it's a "Busy" indication of some kind as you say. No filter was being applied before but now I can't get it fail. Maybe it was the particular page I was working on. I was about to report it as a bug but now it works as expected. Earlier I could get it to fail on most preset filters. I still get the flash of a popup but a filter is applied now. I also tried it on the same machine in Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Linux. There I get no visible popup at all when a filter is applied.