Seems like they do the same thing. When would you use open instead of import?

Hello

It depends what are you going to import or open. I don't know what version of Inkscape or OS you have, so There may be differences, but:
- In my Inkscape 0.91 in a Linux OS (Ubuntu ), for example when you import a PNG image, it appears in the SVG file you already have. When you Open a PNG image, it appears as a different svg file, with he canvas adjusted to the size in pixels of the image.

Yeah, that's something that I think is confusing to users. If you have Inkscape open, and use File menu > Open, and select a PNG, it automatically imports it. I think it does that because Inkscape can't actually edit a raster image.

I'd rather Inkscape give an error message, saying it can't open raster images, and prompting the user to import it. But it's not something I want bad enough to make an official request.

So for raster images, in Inkscape, import and open do the same thing and there's no apparent difference. But generally, open means to open a file (in a new window), and import means to put one file inside another (the one that's already open).

Import will import to the current drawing. Open opens a new window for the file.